Joey McGuire is 20-12 in 2 1/2 seasons in charge of the Red Raiders, making him the fastest Texas Tech football coach to 20 victories since Steve Sloan in 1977. McGuire’s off to his best start yet with the Red Raiders at 5-1 and 3-0 and tied for the lead in the Big 12.
Tech athletics might feel it’s getting its money’s worth.
McGuire is either ninth or 10th highest-paid among the Big 12 head football coaches for the current contract year, according to data compiled by USA TODAY in its annual survey.
There are 16 head coaches in the conference, and USA TODAY obtained pay information for all except Brigham Young’s Kalani Sitake.
McGuire is making $4,204,960 from the school and $43,000 in other pay under a six-year contract he signed in December 2022. He could make up to $1 million in bonuses. He reached $110,000 in incentives during the 2023-24 school year.
Among the Big 12 coaches whose information was obtainable, the USA TODAY survey found Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy to be the highest-paid at $7.75 million, followed by Kansas’s Lance Leipold at $7.5 million, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham at $6.525 million and Colorado’s Deion Sanders at $5.7 million.
Also topping the $5 million mark are Kansas State coach Chris Klieman at $5.25 million and TCU’s Sonny Dykes at $5,008,414.
The other Big 12 coaches ahead of McGuire are Baylor’s Dave Aranda at $4.54 million and Houston’s Willie Fritz at $4.5 million.
Other pay not guaranteed by their universities could not be obtained for Aranda, Sitake, Sanders, Fritz, Gundy, Dykes and Whittingham. Among other pay that was available, the highest amount was $400,000 to Arizona’s Brent Brennan.
Brennan’s total pay of $3.1 million, which includes $2.7 million from the school, makes him the lowest-paid coach in the Big 12. Brennan’s in his first year as the Wildcats’ head coach after seven years at San Jose State.
USA TODAY also determined what it would cost to fire each head coach on Dec. 1, 2024. It would cost Kansas State more than $29 million to dismiss Klieman, Kansas more than $27 million to fire Leipold and Oklahoma State more than $25 million to terminate Gundy.
The school buyouts are $19 million on Fritz, $17.2 million on Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, $16.3 million on Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and $15.7 million on Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield.
Tech’s buyout on McGuire, slightly less than $13 million, is among the lowest in the Big 12.
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