Ryan Day is the highest-paid football coach across public schools in the Big Ten, according to USA TODAY Sports’ annual survey of coaching compensation.
Day is due to make just over $10 million in his sixth season leading Ohio State, keeping him among the small handful of those receiving eight figures annually.
The total earnings for Day are $10.02 million, including a compensation package from the university that totals $9.95 million and an endorsement deal from Kroger worth $75,000. It’s slightly down from what he made last season, an amount that included an additional $250,000 retention bonus.
He remains eligible for bonus pay this year after Ohio State in August revised the performance-based incentives in his contract, a result of the expanded College Football Playoff.
The amended structure allows him to make up to $1.55 million in bonuses after his maximum had been $800,000 in previous years.
Day picked up $250,000 in incentives over the 2023-24 academic year, including $200,000 for the Buckeyes’ appearance in the Cotton Bowl and $50,000 from the team’s cumulative 3.24 grade-point average over the fall and spring semesters.
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At least seven coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision are making $10 million or more this year, a group led by Georgia’s Kirby Smart.
Under a new deal reached this past spring, Smart became the first coach to earn $13 million in annual compensation from a school.
Other coaches making eight-figures include Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($11.1 million), Texas’ Steve Sarkisian ($10.6 million), USC’s Lincoln Riley ($10.04 million), Florida State’s Mike Norvell ($10 million) and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer ($10 million).
Riley is the only other coach in the Big Ten, which now includes four former Pac-12 schools, who could be making more than Day.
As a private school, USC is not required to disclose salary information for its employees, but its federal tax records from 2022 showed him making at least $22,000 more than Day’s reported compensation for this year, putting him one spot above the Buckeyes coach on the list.
Day is the fifth highest-paid coach overall. He was fourth last year and also led all Big Ten coaches as he did in 2021.
Day is 61-9 at Ohio State and led the Buckeyes to the playoff in three times in his first five seasons. They also won the Big Ten championship twice in that span, a feat that came during both of Day’s first two seasons.
The full survey can be found here.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @joeyrkaufman or email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com.
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