New Houston head coach Willie Fritz is slated to make $4.5 million in his first year with the Cougars in 2024. That's nearly double what he made at Tulane.
After going 54-47 at Tulane from 2016-23, he's now set to rebuild the program in Houston after the failed Dana Holgorsen era. He's got his work cut out for him after Houston went just 4-8 in 2023.
Last season, Chris Klieman earned $4.8 million at Kansas State. That was good for 38th-best in the nation.
In charge in Manhattan, Kansas since 2019, he's been excellent after taking over for legendary head coach Bill Snyder. In every year but the shortened 2020 season, he's won at least eight games and in 2022 he guided K-State to the Big 12 title.
It is hard to say whether Deion Sanders has been worth the $5.5 million he earned in 2023 at Colorado. That was good for 32nd nationally.
Off the field, he drove quite a bit of money to the program in the form of exposure and ticket sales. On the field, though, his team went just 4-8 overall and 1-8 in conference play.