The coaching carousel is seemingly always in full swing. Eight NBA teams hired new coaches in 2024, while 10 NFL coaches lost their jobs over the last 13 months and several more heads are on the chopping block.
Yet, the 2024 moves stood out for the departures of some of the highest profile names in coaching and four of the 10 highest paid last year, including Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Monty Williams and Nick Saban. All but Saban were shown the door by their employer. As the axiom goes, coaches are hired to be fired.
The exits and a slew of new contracts meant a 50% turnover at the top of Sportico’s annual study of the highest-paid coaches in American sports and a new No. 1 in Andy Reid, replacing Belichick. In April, the Kansas City Chiefs rewarded Big Red with a five-year, $100 million contract following back-to-back Super Bowl titles and three in five years. Reid is the only NFL coach to win 100 games with two franchises, and he is on his way to a 20th playoff appearance in 26 seasons coaching the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
The top 50 active coaches in college and pro sports are under contracts that average at least $7.75 million per year, based on conversations with teams, agents and executive recruiters, as well as published reports and open records requests for coaches at public universities. The ranking by estimated average annual value (AAV) includes the value of recent extensions but excludes potential incentives (click here for a full list). We did not factor in the eight or so global soccer managers earning at least $10 million per year, led by Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) and Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid).
Reid headlines 13 NFL coaches who cracked the top 50, including six of the top 10, with Sean Payton ($18 million), Mike Tomlin ($16 million), Jim Harbaugh ($16 million), Sean McVay ($15 million) and Kyle Shanahan ($14 million) next up.
Tomlin and Harbaugh both received big raises this year. Tomlin earned an estimated $12.5 million under his prior Steelers pact, but Pittsburgh extended the longtime coach for three years through the 2027 season. Tomlin is a win away from his 18th straight non-losing season since he took the Steelers job in 2007.
Harbaugh ranked 31st last year under his Michigan contract worth $8.34 million annually before incentives. After his first national championship, the Los Angeles Chargers lured the 60-year-old back to the NFL sideline with a five-year, $80 million deal. Harbaugh has won 70% of his games in four-plus years as an NFL head coach, which is better than any other NFL coach over the past 40 years. His AAV tops his brother John ($12 million), who is due a raise next year ahead of his current contract’s expiration with the Ravens following the 2025 season. Tomlin and John Harbaugh (2008) are the league’s longest-tenured coaches with one team after Belichick’s departure from New England.
The NBA also landed 13 names in the top 50, led by Steve Kerr ($17.5 million), Gregg Popovich ($17 million), Erik Spoelstra ($15 million) and Tyronn Lue ($15 million). Kerr (two years), Spoelstra (eight years) and Lue (five years) all signed contract extensions in 2024 that roughly doubled the AAV of their prior deals.
They can thank Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, who reset the NBA coaching market in 2023 when he gave Monty Williams a six-year, $78.5 million contract. When Williams was hired, only one NBA coach earned $10 million a year—the Spurs’ Popovich. In the 13 months after the Williams hire, seven more coaches signed eight-figure deals. Williams was fired after one season in which Detroit posted its worst record in franchise history at 14-68. The Pistons still owe Williams $65 million, a record amount of “dead money” for NBA coaches.
NBA and NFL coaches make up the top 10 by paycheck, but 11 through 50 is dominated by college coaches, including 21 from NCAA football and two in basketball (Kansas’ Bill Self, UConn’s Dan Hurley). Georgia’s Kirby Smart ranks 11th overall with an AAV of $13 million, followed by Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($11.5 million) and USC’s Lincoln Riley ($11 million).
A trio of coaches received pay raises in 2024 that were tied to the retirement of Saban at Alabama after six national championships there. Steve Sarkisian ($10.64 million) and Mike Norvell ($10.52 million) were both considered Saban successors but stayed at Texas and Florida State under enriched contracts. Kalen DeBoer ultimately landed the Alabama job after leading Washington to the 2023-24 College Football Playoff. DeBoer’s eight-year, $87 million contract has an AAV of $10.875 million and is 90% guaranteed if he is fired without cause. Jedd Fisch replaced DeBoer at Washington under a contract with a $7.75 AAV after three years at Arizona, where the team’s win total climbed from one to 10.
The college coaching carousel—and bigger contracts with high-profile openings—previously played out in 2021 when USC, LSU and Florida were hiring. Riley ($11 million), Brian Kelly ($10 million) and Billy Napier ($7.4 million) nabbed those jobs, respectively, and a slew of coaches received raises at their current schools, including Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin ($9 million), Kentucky’s Mark Stoops ($9 million) and Penn State’s James Franklin ($8.5 million), At the start of the 2021 college season, there were three coaches making at least $8 million a year and 15 months later, it had increased to 14.
Winning titles is the surest way to a bigger paycheck. The top 14, plus the Bucks’ Doc Rivers ($11 million), who is tied at No. 15 with four others, have all won a championship in college or the pros, with the exception of Kyle Shanahan, who led the San Francisco 49ers to a pair of Super Bowls during the past five years.
Curt Cignetti hasn’t won a title, but he is one of the fastest risers up the chart. “It’s pretty simple,” Cignetti said at his Indiana introductory press conference 12 months ago. “I win. Google me.”
Cignetti won 85% of his games in five seasons at James Madison and earned $677,311 in 2023. Indiana hired him at an AAV of $4.5 million for six years, but Cignetti has transformed the longtime moribund program with 10 straight wins to start the season. Indiana didn’t wait to reward its coach, handing him a new eight-year, $72 million deal ahead of its showdown versus fellow top-five squad Ohio State and its coach Ryan Day ($10 million). Cignetti (.879) and Day (.878) have the two highest FBS winning percentages among active college football coaches.
No manager has won at a greater clip in the history of Major League Baseball than Dave Roberts. The Los Angeles Dodgers skipper ranks first at .627. Roberts just won his second World Series in five years and is due a raise from his $4 million 2025 salary when his deal expires. Only one MLB manager, Craig Counsell ($8.25 million), cracked the top 50, and Roberts should challenge the Chicago Cubs boss with his next agreement.