College Basketball

ROI: More with Less & Less with More

by
Scott Jones
August 27, 2022

How I typically view a job’s quality is the overall resources a program can offer to a coach. How I view the job the coach is doing at that school is if they are posting higher ranked seasons than the amount of overall spending at a school. For instance, Furman has averaged a 60 NET ranking the last 4 seasons the NET has been the preferred metric of the NCAA. Bob Richey would certainly be considered an overachiever with what he is paid and doing with the investment at Furman.

I believe a program is only as good as its current coach. There is plenty of evidence over the history of hiring the wrong coach and losing big regardless of what you have as an institution. There are also plenty of examples of coaches taking programs that had never done anything and building them into powers. Gonzaga didn’t even go to their first NCAA’s until the mid ’90s for example. I believe history is a factor but not in the way many would believe. The trophies and banners are almost meaningless to winning in the future. Where the history does matter moving forward is if the school built foundational things on this success while they were winning like facilities and a fanbase that gives money and shows up that help sustain and contribute to these resources or has gotten them to a higher conference status that helps fill the coffers indirectly.

These resources help schools hire and retain quality coaches. The money is ultimately the biggest deciding factor in my opinion because it starts at the top with the coach, who then recruits the players. Certainly having good facilities, TV, conference location, etc will aid or be a detriment in hiring or retaining the coach, and the quality of staff or players he can bring as well. It’s still tied up mostly in the money though, and it shows as most of the richest programs are the most successful. In this article, we will look at the outliers to this rule of thumb. The programs that do the most with less, and the ones that burn money as well and have little to show.

Here are the Top 150+ Paid Coaches and what they are making.

Coaching Salary Ranking

Poor Return

Pay Rank			Salary	2022 NET	4 Year NET Avg	Budget Rank
12	Georgetown	Patrick Ewing	$4,000,000	194	103	20
18	Pitt	Jeff Capel	$3,533,438	193	125	35
20	Nebraska	Fred Hoiberg	$3,500,000	145	122	15
36	Georgia Tech	Josh Pastner	$3,000,000	157	96	77
39	Oregon State	Wayne Tinkle	$2,900,000	255	114	87
81	USF	Brian Gregory	$1,600,000	245	157	106
82	California	Mark Fox	$1,600,000	150	149	74

Georgetown, Pitt, and Nebraska are on a different level of burning money, all with top 20 paid coaches and top 35 funded programs getting 100+ results over the last 4 years and 145+ results last season. Other schools that would have been on this list for the results like Georgia and East Carolina fired their coaches last year. We’ll wipe the slate clean for now.

Great Return

Pay Rank			Salary	2022 NET	4 Year NET Avg	Budget Rank
67	Gonzaga	Mark Few	$2,000,000	1	1	23
74	North Carolina	Hubert Davis	$1,750,000	17	24	34
87	San Diego St	Brian Dutcher	1,310,000	30	35	92
94	Loyola Chicago	Drew Valentine	$1,100,000	28	56	100
103	Boise State	Leon Rice	$900,000	34	75	127
105	Saint Mary?s	Randy Bennett	$800,000	19	20	109
108	Belmont	Casey Alexander	$800,000	79	72	152
114	Wyoming	Jeff Linder	$700,000	58	203	119
119	North Texas	Grant McCasland	$650,000	55	88	130
150	Vermont Catamounts	John Becker	$318,270	56	73	204
158	South Dakota State	Eric Henderson	$275,000	67	102	297
	Furman	Bob Richey	NA	82	60	143

These schools are getting more bang for their buck. Davidson would be on this list as well if McKillop hadn’t retired last season. Saint Mary’s and Randy Bennett have to be considered the king of doing more with less. The program he has built is incredible. He’s built a legit top 20 program nationally, playing here…

The program was 2-27 the year before he got there, and they haven’t missed an NCAA or NIT in 16 years. The jobs Jeff Linder, John Becker, and Eric Henderson are doing are worth mentioning as well. It’s impressive to get basketball players to Wyoming, Vermont, and South Dakota. These aren’t exactly hotbeds of talent. They have to convince players to come to these locations and play a sport in places that have harsh winters and aren’t the most desirable places to live for young college students. Vermont and South Dakota State are certainly getting incredible returns for what they put into their program. When you compare that to Georgetown sitting in a hotbed like DC it’s eye-opening.

Here are all the top salary’s for current men’s NCAA College Basketball Coaches.

Coaching Salary
1	Kansas	Big 12	Bill Self	$10,184,282
2	Kentucky	SEC	John Calipari,	$8,602,306
3	Michigan State	Big Ten	Tom Izzo	$8,341,321
4	Duke	ACC	Jon Scheyer	$7,353,496
5	UCLA	Pac 12	Mick Cronin	$5,500,000
6	Texas	Big 12	Chris Beard	$5,255,000
7	Tennessee	SEC	Rick Barnes	$5,200,000
8	Villanova	Big East	Kyle Neptune	$4,400,000
9	TCU	Big 12	Jamie Dixon	$4,347,975
10	Maryland	Big Ten	Kevin Willard	$4,200,000
11	West Virginia	Big 12	Bob Huggins	$4,150,000
12	Georgetown	Big East	Patrick Ewing	$4,000,000
13	Texas A&M	SEC	Buzz Williams	$4,000,000
14	Arkansas	SEC	Eric Musselman	$4,000,000
15	Auburn	SEC	Bruce Pearl	$3,825,321
16	Oregon	Pac 12	Dana Altman	$3,759,500
17	Virginia	ACC	Tony Bennett	$3,648,019
18	Pitt	ACC	Jeff Capel	$3,533,438
19	Baylor	Big 12	Scott Drew	$3,511,477
20	Nebraska	Big Ten	Fred Hoiberg,	$3,500,000
21	Illinois	Big Ten	Brad Underwood	$3,500,000
22	Michigan	Big Ten	Juwan Howard	$3,500,000
23	Providence	Big East	Ed Cooley	$3,450,550
24	Louisville	ACC	Kenny Payne	$3,400,000
25	Georgia	SEC	Mike White	$3,400,000
26	USC	Pac 12	Andy Enfield	$3,354,315
27	Northwestern	Big Ten	Chris Collins	$3,262,250
28	Alabama	SEC	Nate Oats	$3,237,587
29	Purdue	Big Ten	Matt Painter	$3,225,000
30	Oklahoma	Big 12	Porter Moser	$3,200,000
31	Indiana	Big Ten	Mike Woodson	$3,125,000
32	Houston	AAC	Kelvin Sampson	$3,100,000
33	Ole Miss	SEC	Kermit Davis	$3,052,500
34	Ohio State	Big Ten	Chris Holtmann	$3,045,179
35	Texas Tech	Big 12	Mark Adams	$3,000,000
36	Georgia Tech	ACC	Josh Pastner	$3,000,000
37	Iowa	Big Ten	Fran McCaffrey	$3,000,000
38	Florida	SEC	Todd Golden	$3,000,000
39	Oregon State	Pac 12	Wayne Tinkle	$2,900,000
40	Arizona	Pac 12	Tommy Lloyd	$2,900,000
41	Washington	Pac 12	Mike Hopkins	$2,900,000
42	Syracuse	ACC	Jim Boehiem	$2,843,260
43	UConn	Big East	Danny Hurley	$2,800,000
44	Marquette	Big East	Shaka Smart	$2,800,000
45	Missouri	SEC	Dennis Gates	$2,750,000
46	NC State	ACC	Kevin Keatts	$2,700,000
47	St John?s	Big East	Mike Anderson	$2,600,000
48	Seton Hall	Big East	Shaheen Holloway	$2,400,000
49	Xavier	Big East	Sean Miller	$2,400,000
50	Colorado	Pac 12	Tad Boyle	$2,400,000
51	Mississippi State	SEC	Chris Jans	$2,400,000
52	Memphis	AAC	Penny Hardaway	$2,350,000
53	Vanderbilt	SEC	Jerry Stackhouse	$2,232,090
54	Florida State	ACC	Leonard Hamilton	$2,200,000
55	Arizona State	Pac 12	Bobby Hurley	$2,200,000
56	South Carolina	SEC	Lamont Paris	$2,200,000
57	LSU	SEC	Matt McMahon	$2,200,000
58	St Louis	A10	Travis Ford	$2,100,000
59	Kansas State	Big 12	Jerome Tang	$2,100,000
60	Utah	Pac 12	Craig Smith	$2,100,000
61	Rhode Island	A10	Archie Miller	$2,000,000
62	SMU	AAC	Rob Lanier	$2,000,000
63	Virginia Tech	ACC	Mike Young	$2,000,000
64	Wake Forest	ACC	Steve Forbes	$2,000,000
65	Rhode Island	Atlantic 10	Archie Miller	$2,000,000
66	Penn State	Big Ten	Micah Shrewsberry	$2,000,000
67	Gonzaga	West Coast	Mark Few	$2,000,000
68	Minnesota	Big Ten	Ben Johnson	$1,950,000
69	Creighton	Big East	Greg McDermot	$1,926,881
70	Wisconsin	Big Ten	Greg Gard	$1,900,000
71	Dayton	A10	Anthony Grant	$1,830,000
72	St. Bonaventure	A10	Mark Schmidt	$1,800,000
73	Clemson	ACC	Brad Brownell	$1,800,000
74	North Carolina	ACC	Hubert Davis	$1,750,000
75	Oklahoma State	Big 12	Mike Boynton	$1,725,000
76	Miami	ACC	Jim Larranaga	$1,700,000
77	Rutgers	Big Ten	Steve Pikiell	$1,700,000
78	Butler	Big East	Thad Matta	$1,687,863
79	Notre Dame	ACC	Mike Brey	$1,680,981
80	UMass	A10	Frank Martin	$1,650,000
81	USF	AAC	Brian Gregory	$1,600,000
82	California	Pac 12	Mark Fox	$1,600,000
83	VCU	A10	Mike Rhoads	$1,500,000
84	Iowa State	Big 12	T.J. Otzelberger	$1,500,000
85	Depaul	Big East	Tony Stubblefield	$1,500,000
86	Washington State	Pac 12	Kyle Smith	$1,400,000
87	San Diego St	MWC	Brian Dutcher	1,310,000
88	Tulsa	AAC	Erick Konkol	$1,300,000
89	Cincinnati	AAC	Wes Miller	$1,250,000
90	BYU	West Coast	Mark Pope	$1,250,000
91	Tulane	AAC	Ron Hunter	$1,200,000
92	Nevada	MWC	Steve Alford	$1,150,000
93	Richmond	A10	Chris Mooney	$1,100,000
94	Loyola Chicago	A10	Drew Valentine	$1,100,000
95	UCF	AAC	Johnny Dawkins	$1,100,000
96	Temple	AAC	Aaron McKie	$1,100,000
97	Colorado State	MWC	Niko Medved	$1,100,000
98	Duquesne	A10	Keith Dambrot	$1,000,000
99	Wichita State	AAC	Isaac Brown	$1,000,000
100	Iona	MAAC	Rick Pitinio	$1,000,000
101	George Mason	A10	Kim English	$925,000
102	ECU	AAC	Michael Schwartz	$900,000
103	Boise State	MWC	Leon Rice	$900,000
104	UAB	CUSA	Andy Kennedy	$900,000
105	Saint Mary’s	West Coast	Randy Bennett	$800,000
106	Fresno State	MWC	Justin Hutson	$800,000
107	Utah State	MWC	Ryan Odom	$800,000
108	Belmont	MVC	Casey Alexander	$800,000
109	Drake	MVC	Darian DeVries	$800,000
110	New Mexico	MWC	Richard Pitino	$775,000
111	UNLV	MWC	Kevin Kruger	$770,000
112	UTEP Miners	CUSA	Joe Golding	$725,000
113	La Salle	A10	Fran Dunphy	$724,000
114	Wyoming	MWC	Jeff Linder	$700,000
115	San Jose State	MWC	Tim Miles	$700,000
116	Bradley	Missouri Valley	Brian Wardle	$681,886
117	Akron	MAC	John Groce	$650,000
118	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	CUSA	Rick Stansbury	$650,000
119	North Texas	CUSA	Grant McCasland	$650,000
120	Charlotte	Conference USA	Ron Sanchez	$650,000
121	Louisiana	Sun Belt	Bob Marlin	$642,000
122	Davidson	A10	Matt McKillop	$600,000
123	Ohio	MAC	Jeff Boals	$581,000
124	Middle Tennessee	CUSA	Nick McDevitt	$575,000
125	Illinois State	Missouri Valley	Dan Muller	$564,000
126	Old Dominion	CUSA	Jeff Jones	$550,000
127	Wright State Raiders	Horizon League	Scott Nagy	$500,000
128	Southern Illinois	Missouri Valley	Bryan Mullins	$475,000
129	Monmouth	MAAC	King Rice	$446,448
130	Towson	CAA	Pat Skerry	$445,000
131	Central Michigan	MAC	Tony Barbee	$420,000
132	Marshall	CUSA	Dan D’Antoni	$420,000
133	Bowling Green	MAC	Michael Huger	$415,000
134	Toledo	MAC	Tod Kowalczyk	$415,000
135	Northern Kentucky	Horizon League	Darrin Horn	$400,000
136	Florida Atlantic	CUSA	Dusty May	$390,000
137	Manhattan	MAAC	Steve Masiello	$389,383
138	Kent State	MAC	Rob Senderoff	$385,000
139	Arkansas State	Sun Belt	Mike Balado	$375,000
140	Missouri State	Missouri Valley	Dana Ford	$375,000
141	Stephen F. Austin	Southland	Kyle Keller	$375,000
142	Stony Brook	America East	Geno Ford	$365,000
143	UC Irvine	Big West	Russell Turner	$364,000
144	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	Joe Pasternack	$357,489
145	Cal Poly	Big West	John Smith	$350,004
146	UC Davis	Big West	Jim Les	$350,000
147	Indiana State	Missouri Valley	Josh Schertz	$334,000
148	Hawaii	Big West	Eran Ganot	$330,000
149	UTSA Roadrunners	CUSA	Steve Henson	$325,000
150	Vermont Catamounts	America East	John Becker	$318,270
151	Southern Miss	CUSA	Jay Ladner	$315,000
152	Oakland	Horizon League	Greg Kampe	$301,165
153	Coastal Carolina	Sun Belt	Cliff Ellis	$300,409
154	Appalachian State	Sun Belt	Dustin Kerns	$300,000
155	Florida International	CUSA	Jeremy Ballard	$300,000
156	Morgan State	MEAC	Kevin Broadus	$300,000
157	Long Beach State	Big West	Dan Monson	$283,560
158	South Dakota State	Summit	Eric Henderson	$275,000
159	Austin Peay	Ohio Valley	Matt Figger	$270,000
160	Cal State Fullerton	Big West	Dedrique Taylor	$257,508
161	UMass Lowell	America East	Pat Duquette	$250,113
162	Little Rock	Sun Belt	Darrell Walker	$250,000
163	North Carolina Central	MEAC	LeVelle Moton	$250,000
164	Texas Southern	SWAC	Johnny Jones	$250,000
165	Cal State Bakersfield	WAC	Rod Barnes	$244,765
	Fordham	A10	Keith Urgo	NA
	St. Joseph?s	A10	Billy Lange	NA
	George Washington	A10	Chris Caputo	NA
	Stanford	Pac 12	Jerod Haase	NA
	Air Force	MWC	Joe Scott	NA