Swinney vaults to nation's second-highest paid coach |
What a difference a year makes for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.
USA TODAY released its annual coach salaries database Wednesday, which showed the reigning national title-winner's move from 12th to second nationally in total pay year-to-year – with the highest buyout figure. Counting bonuses, Swinney is slated to make $8.53 million, which only trails Alabama’s Nick Saban ($11.13 million), and Swinney's buyout is projected at $40 million, which only FSU’s Jimbo Fisher rivals nationally ($39.31 million). USA TODAY’s 2016 salary database placed Swinney just outside the top-10 with a $4.42 million total compensation. Both Saban and Swinney jumped 2016 highest-paid coach Jim Harbaugh, whose compensation went down from just over $9 million to just over $7 million. Swinney signed a contract in August that’s slated to average $6.75 million over eight years. On his end of a potential buyout, Swinney would owe the school $6 million if he left before the end of the contract. USA TODAY reports the average coach salary has doubled since 2006, which is now $2.4 million per year. Swinney's run at Clemson is a prime example of that shift in compensation. His first contract as a head coach was a minimum of $800,000 in 2009, which was about four times his salary as a receivers coach the season before.
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