Kirby Smart, head football coach at the University of Georgia, earned $6.6 million in 2018, making Smart the highest-paid public employee in Georgia that year, according to a ranking by the website GOBankingRates.
On the ranking of the highest-paid public employees in each state, Smart’s salary came in sixth, according to the analysis.
Data from USA Today’s 2018 NCAA salary reports, as well as OpenTheBooks.com, were used by the website to create the ranking of top public employee salaries. Some of the employees in the ranking have left their positions since last year, however, according to GOBankingRates.
Twenty-nine of the people on the list – or 58 percent – held the position of the head football coach at a major university, the study said. Most of them were earning annual pay of $1 million or more, according to the analysis.
Highest-Paid Public Employees by State in 2018
State Public Employee Name Job Title Employer Total 2018 Pay Rank Kentucky John Calipari Head basketball coach University of Kentucky $9,276,643 1 Alabama Nick Saban Head football coach University of Alabama $8,307,000 2 Ohio Urban Meyer Head football coach Ohio State University $7,600,000 3 Michigan Jim Harbaugh Head football coach University of Michigan $7,504,000 4 Texas Jimbo Fisher Head football coach Texas A&M University $7,500,000 5 Georgia Kirby Smart Head football coach University of Georgia $6,603,600 6 South Carolina Dabo Swinney Head football coach Clemson University $6,543,350 7 Florida Dan Mullen Head football coach University of Florida $6,070,000 8 Illinois Lovie Smith Head football coach University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign $5,000,000 9 Nebraska Scott Frost Head football coach University of Nebraska $5,000,000 10 Oklahoma Mike Gundy Head football coach Oklahoma State University $5,000,000 11 Pennsylvania James Franklin Head football coach Pennsylvania State University $4,800,000 12 Iowa Kirk Ferentz Head football coach University of Iowa $4,700,000 13 Washington Chris Petersen Head football coach University of Washington $4,377,500 14 Virginia Tony Bennett Head basketball coach University of Virginia $4,150,000 15 Kansas Bill Self Head basketball coach University of Kansas $4,066,857 16 West Virginia Bob Huggins Head basketball coach West Virginia University $3,865,000 17 Tennessee Jeremy Pruitt Head football coach University of Tennessee $3,846,000 18 Indiana Jeff Brohm Head football coach Purdue University $3,800,000 19 Utah Kyle Whittingham Head football coach University of Utah $3,787,917 20 Wisconsin Paul Chryst Head football coach University of Wisconsin-Madison $3,750,000 21 Minnesota P.J. Fleck Head football coach University of Minnesota $3,550,000 22 Arkansas Chad Morris Head football coach University of Arkansas $3,500,000 23 Louisiana Ed Orgeron Head football coach Louisiana State University $3,500,000 24 California Chip Kelly Head football coach University of California, Los Angeles $3,300,000 25 North Carolina Roy Williams Head basketball coach University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $3,298,778 26 Mississippi Matt Luke Head football coach University of Mississippi $3,000,000 27 Colorado Mike MacIntyre Head football coach University of Colorado Boulder $2,878,500 28 Maryland Mark Turgeon Head basketball coach University of Maryland, College Park $2,847,232 29 Oregon Dana Altman Head basketball coach University of Oregon $2,822,000 30 Missouri Cuonzo Martin Head basketball coach University of Missouri $2,800,000 31 Arizona Sean Miller Head basketball coach University of Arizona $2,700,000 32 New Jersey Chris Ash Head football coach Rutgers University-New Brunswick $2,200,000 33 Idaho Bryan Harsin Head football coach Boise State University $1,650,010 34 Wyoming Craig Bohl Head football coach University of Wyoming $1,412,000 35 Connecticut Randy Edsall Head football coach University of Connecticut $1,100,000 36 Massachusetts Michael Collins Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and senior vice president for health sciences University of Massachusetts $1,069,752 37 New York Thomas J. Quatroche Jr. President and CEO Erie County Medical Center Corp. $876,442 38 New Mexico Bob Davie Head football coach University of New Mexico $823,740 39 Hawaii Jay Boughanem Staff surgeon Hawaii Health Systems Corp. $600,000 40 Nevada Tony Sanchez Head football coach University of Nevada, Las Vegas $600,000 41 Vermont Frederick C. Morin III Dean of the College of Medicine University of Vermont $582,254 42 New Hampshire James W. Dean Jr. President University of New Hampshire $445,000 43 South Dakota T.J. Otzelberger Head basketball coach South Dakota State University $400,000 44 Alaska James Roland Johnsen President University of Alaska Statewide System $384,600 45 Rhode Island David M. Dooley President University of Rhode Island $380,000 46 Maine Joan Ferrini-Mundy President University of Maine $350,000 47 Montana Laurence Hubbard President and CEO Montana State Fund $342,308 48 Delaware Mark T. Brainard President Delaware Technical Community College $245,955 49 North Dakota Larry P. Nybladh Superintendent of schools Grand Forks County $231,210 50
Source: GOBankingRates.com
