College football's highest-paid coaches: Curt Cignetti, Lane Kiffin deals shake up the top 10
Cignetti, Kiffin and Kirby Smart are now the three highest-paid coaches in the country
The 2025 college football season produced one of the craziest midseason coaching carousels in recent history.
With LSU, Florida, Penn State, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, UCLA and Stanford all making new hires, there's never been a better time to be a coaching agent. An active coaching carousel doesn't just mean big money goes to those who bolt for new jobs, as big openings provide significant leverage for top candidates to sign lucrative extensions at their current schools.
Among those who took advantage of the active carousel were Curt Cignetti (Indiana) and Mike Elko (Texas A&M), who parlayed strong 2025 campaigns into extensions to put them among the highest-paid coaches in the sport.
One name on this list prior to the 2025 season, Brian Kelly, is no longer on it by virtue of being fired by LSU amid a bizarre saga in Baton Rouge. He was replaced by Lane Kiffin -- both at LSU and on the top 10 highest-paid coaches list -- as Kiffin bolted Ole Miss for an SEC rival.
A year ago, nine coaches topped $10 million per year, but now that figure no longer guarantees a spot in the top 10. Rhett Lashlee (SMU), Bill Belichick (North Carolina), and Mike Norvell (Florida State) are now honorable mentions as coaches who make eight figures annually but currently fall just outside the top 10.
Here are the 10 highest-paid coaches based on a combination of publicly available contracts and USA Today's coaching salary database.
10. Dan Lanning, Oregon -- $10.6 million
Career record: 48-8
Record at Oregon: 48-8
Conference championships: 1
Playoff appearances: 2
National titles: 0
Lanning has kept the Oregon machine rolling along since he took over in 2022, and the Ducks are happy to pay big money to keep one of the most coveted coaches in all of college football in Eugene. Oregon won the Big Ten in its first season in the conference and has been a contender in every season under Lanning. Lanning has made it abundantly clear that he won't leave Oregon for any other job. With a top-10 contract and the resources provided to him to build a perennial title contender, there's little reason to think he's not telling the truth. That said, after four years at the helm, the expectations in Eugene for Lanning to finally cash in on those resources to at least reach a national title game will start to ramp up.
T8. Steve Sarkisian, Texas -- $11.05 million
Career record: 94-55
Record at Texas: 48-20
Conference championships: 1
Playoff appearances: 2
National titles: 0
Under Sarkisian, Texas has returned to the national conversation and become a perennial playoff contender. However, simply reaching the CFP is no longer the main goal in Austin, and he has to prove he can deliver a national title soon -- or at least a run to the title game -- if he's going to satiate the Longhorn faithful. The Longhorns opened 2025 as the preseason No. 1 for the first time ever, but failed to live up to those lofty expectations and missed the playoff. The 2026 season may very well be a prove-it year for Sark, as Texas believes it's provided him with the roster (led by Arch Manning) and resources to get them back in the national title picture.
T8. Mike Elko, Texas A&M -- $11.05 million
Career record: 35-16
Record at Texas A&M: 19-7
Conference championships: 0
Playoff appearances: 1
National titles: 0
One of the beneficiaries of Penn State's opening last year was Elko, who parlayed the Aggies' hot 2025 season and Penn State's interest (as someone who played his college football in Pennsylvania) into a fresh extension that bumped him into the top 5. Elko has done what Jimbo Fisher couldn't in College Station: make the Aggies a legitimate contender for an SEC title and a national title. The Aggies weren't about to let a coach who has them in that conversation leave, and paid up to keep Elko in Aggieland for years to come.
T6. Dabo Swinney, Clemson -- $11.5 milion
Career record: 187-53
Record at Clemson: 187-53
Conference championships: 9
Playoff appearances: 7
National titles: 2
Perhaps the most fascinating coach on this list, Swinney is the unquestioned best coach in Clemson history. However, with each year, those national championships move further in the rearview, and it's hard not to believe the Tigers have been lapped by the SEC and Big Ten contenders they were once on par with. The Tigers' struggles have led some to wonder if Clemson could really consider ousting the legendary coach this offseason. If nothing else, he'll have to show he can still make Clemson a threat in 2026.
T6. Lincoln Riley, USC -- $11.5 million
Career record: 90-28
Record at school: 35-18
Conference championships: 3
Playoff appearances: 3
National titles: 0
Despite being at a private institution, because Riley is a few years into his deal, tax records show how much he's making in Los Angeles. Riley's Trojans have yet to make the kind of noise USC hoped for when they poached him from Oklahoma by promising him one of the most lucrative deals in the country. The 2025 version of the Trojans once again had a dynamic offense and a leaky defense, as has been the case ever since Riley arrived, and the inability to field a complete team has led to some frustration in Los Angeles. Adding to that feeling for Trojans fans is watching their fellow former Pac-12 rival, Oregon, thrive in the Big Ten while they sit a tier below.
T4. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama -- $12.5 million
Career record: 57-17
Record at school: 20-8
Conference championships: 1
Playoff appearances: 2
National titles: 0
Following Nick Saban was never going to be easy, and each Alabama loss brings fresh speculation about DeBoer's future in Tuscaloosa. His seat was at its hottest after the season-opening loss to Florida State in 2025, but he cooled things off with a winning streak to vault to No. 4 in the nation and an eventual trip to the playoff quarterfinals. Despite the fact that the Tide got quickly rolled by Indiana in the Rose Bowl -- proving how much further Alabama still had to go to get back to their past dominance -- the school opted to re-up on a new deal that pays him $12.5 million per year for the next seven years this spring. That brought him from 10th on this list to tied for fourth, and while that gives him some tremendous financial security, it will only increase the pressure on him to deliver. DeBoer is now handsomely paid to deal with everything that comes with the territory of being Alabama's coach, but until he wins a national title with the Tide, Saban's long shadow will continue to hang over him.
T4. Ryan Day, Ohio State -- $12.5 million
Career record: 82-12
Record at school: 82-12
Conference championships: 3
Playoff appearances: 5
National titles: 1
The Buckeyes' run to a national title in 2024 finally gave Day a chance to breathe after another loss to Michigan in late November left Ohio State fans ready to run him out of Columbus. Then the Ohio State machine looked as dominant and dangerous as ever in the 2025 regular season and was long considered the favorites to repeat as champs. But a couple of poor offensive showings in a Big Ten title game loss to Indiana and then a Cotton Bowl loss to Miami reapplied some pressure on Day coming into 2026. Ohio State will be loaded again in 2026, but after watching another crop of stars go off to the NFL and having to rework his offensive staff, Day will feel the heat again to get the Buckeyes back on top of the Big Ten and advance deep into the playoff.
3. Lane Kiffin, LSU -- $13 million
Career record: 116-53
Record at school: 0-0
Conference championships: 0
Playoff appearances: 1* (did not coach in playoff)
National titles: 0
There are a lot of coaches on this list feeling some heat to prove they are worthy of their massive contracts, but no coach enters the 2026 season feeling more pressure to live up to expectations than Kiffin. Because he just signed a $91 million deal, his job won't be in jeopardy if the Tigers don't contend for the SEC and national titles. That said, just about the entire college football world outside of Baton Rouge is rooting for Kiffin to fail, and no one will catch more flak if they fall short of expectations than Kiffin after his latest messy exit from Ole Miss.
2. Kirby Smart, Georgia -- $13 million
Career record: 117-21
Record at school: 117-21
Conference championships: 4
Playoff appearances: 5
National titles: 2
Reports of the Dawgs' demise appear to have been premature, as Smart got Georgia hitting its stride down the stretch of the 2025 season, winning another SEC title before losing to Ole Miss in the quarterfinals. Smart and Swinney are the only coaches on this list with multiple national titles to their name, and it would take a lengthy swoon in Athens (like Dabo's had at Clemson) for there to be any actionable noise about Smart's job status. For as volatile as college football fans and message boards can be about their coach, Smart provides regular reminders -- like dominating Sarkisian and DeBoer late in 2025 -- to the Georgia faithful that there's no one they'd rather have wearing the headset between the hedges.
1. Curt Cignetti, Indiana -- $13.2 million
Career record: 46-6
Record at school: 27-2
Conference championships: 1
Playoff appearances: 2
National titles: 1
Indiana's investment in football has been remarkable since Cignetti arrived, and after the Penn State job opened up, they made a statement to the rest of the country that they are committed to that kind of commitment long-term. Cignetti's new extension initially paid him just over $11.1 million in the first year, but after reaching the CFP semis (and eventually won the national title) an escalator clause kicked in that pushed him above the $13 million mark. The Hoosiers and Cignetti face a challenge going forward in keeping up the momentum they've built, but Indiana's resources are fully unleashed, and Cignetti's shown a keen eye for portal talent and clearly knows how to maximize his rosters.
