Upsets and exciting finishes are also the norms when March rolls around. But there is also a dash for head coaches to cash in on their NCAA Tournament successes — or programs to rethink the leaders of failed teams.
Look no further than the Big East to see the extent of the men’s basketball coaching carousel.
- On Monday, Ed Cooley left his head coaching bench from one Big East school, Providence, to conference rival Georgetown after firing Patrick Ewing.
- Less than two hours later, St. John’s announced they would hire Rick Pitino from Iona. It will be Pitino’s third coaching role in the conference.
- March Madness could also be considered a springboard to bigger jobs with bigger salaries. After leading No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson to a stunning win over No. 1 Purdue, coach Tobin Anderson jumped ship — to replace Pitino at Iona.
Cooley will jump up the coaching salaries chart when the season starts later this fall. But the king at the top remains Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who raked in over $8.5 million this season.
Chris Beard will drop down the list after being fired from Texas earlier this year but was recently hired at Ole Miss as its next head coach. He reportedly made $5 million in Austin. He will make $3.25 million on the Oxford, Miss. campus.
The paycheck sometimes does not translate onto the court. Only four coaches in the Top 25 qualified for this week’s Sweet 16, and Calipari isn’t one of them.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo leads the way at No. 3 with $5.7 million, followed by Tennessee’s Rick Barnes at No. 4 with $5.4 million. Then, UCLA’s Mick Cronin and Arkansas’ Eric Musselman are No. 10 and 11 on the list with $4.1 million.
On the lower end of the coaching salary spectrum are Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May and Texas interim coach Rodney Eric Terry — the only two known coaches in the Sweet 16 to make less than $1 million per year. Terry makes $800,000, and May makes just $390,000.
Then there’s Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson, who has led his Tigers on a surprise run to the second week of the NCAA Tournament. The head coach has taken his team to the NCAA Tournament three times since he took the helm in 2011. The 15th-seeded Princeton Tigers have made it to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. However, since Princeton is a private school, Henderson’s salary has not been publicly available.
The Sweet 16
| Rank | Coach | School | Salary |
| 1. | Tom Izzo | Michigan State | $5,738,727 |
| 2. | Rick Barnes | Tennessee | $5,450,000 |
| 3. | Mick Cronin | UCLA | $4,100,000 |
| 4. | Eric Musselman | Arkansas | $4,100,000 |
| 5. | Nate Oats | Alabama | $3,418,644 |
| 6. | Kelvin Sampson | Houston | $3,200,000 |
| 7. | Danny Hurley | Connecticut | $2,900,000 |
| 8. | Jim Larrañaga | Miami | $2,562,916 |
| 9. | Sean Miller | Xavier | $2,400,000 |
| 10. | Greg McDermott | Creighton | $2,143,312 |
| 11. | Jerome Tang | Kansas State | $2,1000,000 |
| 12. | Mark Few | Gonzaga | $1,877,687 |
| 13. | Brian Dutcher | San Diego State | $1,353,100 |
| 14. | Rodney Terry | Texas | $800,000* |
| 15. | Dusty May | Florida Atlantic | $390,000 |
| 16. | Mitch Henderson | Princeton | N/A |
*interim head coach
Top 25 Coaches 2022-23
| Rank | Coach | School | Total Pay | Conf. |
| 1 | John Calipari | Kentucky | $8,533,483 | SEC |
| 2 | Bill Self | Kansas | $5,963,800 | Big 12 |
| 3 | Tom Izzo | Michigan St | $5,738,727 | Big Ten |
| 4 | Rick Barnes | Tennessee | $5,450,000 | SEC |
| 5 | Bruce Pearl | Auburn | $5,449,152 | SEC |
| 6 | Chris Beard (Was hired by Ole Miss, will be paid $3.25M/year) | Texas | $5,005,000 | Big 12 |
| 7 | Tony Bennett | Virginia | $4,830,345 | ACC |
| 8 | Brad Underwood | Illinois | $4,600,550 | Big Ten |
| 9 | Bob Huggins | West Virginia | $4,150,000 | Big 12 |
| 10 | Mick Cronin | UCLA | $4,100,000 | Pac-12 |
| 11 | Eric Musselman | Arkansas | $4,100,000 | SEC |
| 12 | Buzz Williams | Texas A&M | $4,100,000 | SEC |
| 13 | Dana Altman | Oregon | $4,009,500 | Pac-12 |
| 14 | Tommy Lloyd | Arizona | $4,000,000 | Pac-12 |
| 15 | Kevin Willard | Maryland | $3,900,000 | Big Ten |
| 16 | Ed Cooley (has since left for Georgetown, paid almost $6M/year per reports) | Providence | $3,751,112 | Big East |
| 17 | Scott Drew | Baylor | $3,706,581 | Big 12 |
| 18 | Greg Gard | Wisconsin | $3,637,500 | Big Ten |
| 19 | Juwan Howard | Michigan | $3,616,000 | Big Ten |
| 20 | Jeff Capel | Pittsburgh | $3,614,588 | ACC |
| 21 | Matt Painter | Purdue | $3,580,000 | Big Ten |
| 22 | Jamie Dixon | Texas Christian | $3,512,107 | Big 12 |
| 23 | Andy Enfield | Southern California | $3,511,285 | Pac-12 |
| 24 | Chris Holtmann | Ohio St. | $3,500,000 | Big Ten |
| 25 | Kenny Payne | Louisville | $3,494,026* | ACC |
The top 25 highest-paid coaches have fared over the last two seasons. Most of the annual earnings are based on 2022-23 data from a USA Today Sports database but take into account coaching changes, compensation data, and the latest information.
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