In today’s world of college football everyone is making money. The schools, the players and of course the coaches. In fact, in most states the highest paid public employees are head football coaches.
It’s not uncommon for coaches to make eight-figure salaries per season. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders just signed a new deal that will pay him over $10 million per year, which will make him the highest-paid head coach in the Big 12. And what’s even crazier is that there are still seven coaches who are paid more than him.
Georgia’s Kirby Smart is the highest-paid coach in college football, averaging over $13 million per season. Remember the Jimbo Fischer experiment at Texas A&M? He ended up getting fired, and A&M owed him $77 million. Can you imagine getting paid that much not to coach? That is what I call living the dream.
As crazy as some of these numbers are, I wonder if we are going to see a shift in college football when it comes to these coaching deals due to the upcoming changes happening.
Pending final approval of the House Settlement, beginning July 1, 2025, universities will be allowed to directly share revenue with student-athletes, in addition to providing already existing benefits such as scholarships, housing, and meals. Power-conference revenue sharing will be capped at $20.5 million in 2025-26, with gradual increases planned each year.
No matter how you feel about this, it doesn’t change the fact that everything is all about money. If you want to compete for national championships, you better pay up or shut up. Even with the schools now being able to pay the players directly, NIL isn’t going anywhere. It gives athletes more opportunities to make money outside of direct compensation from the school.
Every dollar counts and that has never been truer than right now. But do you know what I love seeing? Head coaches are putting up some of their own money to help the players. That is exactly what UCF head coach Scott Frost did on Tuesday. His family committed half a million dollars to the school’s recently launched Competitive Success Fund.
This money will help UCF recruit new players as well as retain some of the current players on the roster.
“UCF is a special place to my family and me,” Frost said in a statement. “The experience we had here, the people, the culture, and the passion for excellence all played a huge role in shaping who I am today and why we came back. Ashley and I are honored to support the Competitive Success Fund because we believe in the vision of UCF Athletics and want to contribute to the continued success of its student-athletes. The future is incredibly bright for the Knights, and we are excited to be part of it.”
“We are grateful to Scott and Ashley Frost for their gracious commitment,” said Terry Mohajir, UCF’s vice president and director of athletics. “Their generosity will directly benefit our student-athletes as we continue to elevate our athletics programs on the national stage.”
You want to talk about putting your money where your mouth is? That is exactly what Scott Frost did here. In a world where head coaches are making crazy amounts of money, I think Scott Frost may have started a new trend in college football. For decades, coaches have taken millions of dollars every year and now some of these coaches are going to realize that they may also have to give back to keep up with the rest of college football.
