Which College Football Coach Is Overpaid? Who Is a Value?

In order of cash payouts: You can click on most names for more details.

Overpaid: Top 10

1.  Bob Stoops—Ok I hear the Okies screaming already... He's won a National Championship!  He's got the best winning percentage of any coach since 1999! Yeah, but when you're being paid $6,500,000 or almost twice what Nick Saban's making, not winning a championship for eight years means OK is paying top dollar and not getting top results.

2. Charlie Weis—$4,200,000 to be mediocre and unrated for two years?  This is the biggest joke in football and he's locked in for YEARS.

3. Jim Tressel—$3,500,000 to be the bowl game punch line?  Sure he's got good results as long as he plays inside "Conference Cushy," but let him him play a two-loss SEC team and get laughed out of the stadium.  When you're making top dollar, you have to do better than being New Year's punching bag.

4.  Bobby Petrino—Ok that may not be fair because it's his first year, but with his team at 3-5, his $2,800,000 ain't looking like a good investment.  Same could have been said for Saban last year, but he turned it around.  If Bobby does the same next year, he goes off the list too.

5.  Tommy Tuberville—The master of smoke and mirrors and collecting $2,825,000.  His greatest claims to fame are beating Alabama during their six years of hell and going 13-0 and STILL being passed over for any championship talk.  This year's team is a train wreck and despite his past, Auburn fans are murmuring for a change.

6.  Rich Rodriguez—$2,500,000. Yes, you knew it was coming.  Mr. "I took over over a bulldozer and am going to turn it into a Lamborghini in one pre-season."  If there's a more bull-headed coach that tries to fit his square peg into Michigan's round hole, I haven't seen it.

7.  Bobby Bowden—$2,500,000 for going 8-5 and 7-6 twice in the last three years and in the ACC of all places?  Where do I sign up?  Bobby is proof you can coast a long way at some schools.

8. Philip Fulmer—Where else can you make $2,400,000 and still not make a bowl game?  And after this year he'll make that sitting at home after the Vols finally dump his broad behind because they finally agree with me.

9. Mark Mangino—Hey last year's 12-1 looked good, but now your 5-3 with only a 50 percent winning percentage while at Kansas.  Hey if your in the $2 million or better club, more is expected of you and you're at $2,300,000.

10. Greg Schiano—3-5 and making $2,250,000 and you're in the Big Easy?  Can I get my son that job?  Hey 1953's prom queen was cute way back, but just like your past glory, you really look pretty ugly right now.

Honorable Mention: Tommy Bowden.  He's still cashing checks from his Easy Boy.

June Jones—$2,000,000 a year and you're 1-8?  Sounds like the bonuses they give all the CEO's that lost millions for their companies and still got the big money.  Hey June, are you missing the warmth and admiration you had at Hawaii.  You gave up that gig to live in the freakin' SMU desert and win one stupid game?  Hope you spend some of this on a good shrink.

Next Year's Newcomer Best Bets

Les Miles—His contract makes him the highest paid SEC coach and he's not going to be a top coach much longer.

Mark Richt—How long will Georgia wait to FINALLY see something big happen?  Bama proved that this year's team was not the top SEC team by long shot in the year that was supposed to be theirs.

Got Their Money's Worth: Top 10 (In Order of Top Salaries)

1. Pete Carroll —USC always seem to be in contention for a top spot.  He recruits and coaches well.  At $4,000,000, their rich alumni should have no problems paying that.

2. Nick Saban—Made the other list last year, but ahhhhh, what a difference a year makes.  Saban showed Mal Moore and the Crimson faithful that he was worth their faithfulness and their cash.  Should Alabama win it all, the $3,750,000 they paid will seem like a bargain because he's filling the shelves to keep the Tide there for a while.

3.Urban Meyer—Hey, you don't have to love him, but you have to admire that he keeps the Gators in contention year in and year out.  It's one thing to inherit a good team like Les Miles did, it's another to keep it going this long without a big drop.  Meyer's $3,400,000 salary is looking like a good investment.

4. Mack Brown—Has the Longhorns in contention.  Keeps giving Oklahoma the sharp stick in the eye and it's hard to argue with a national championship backed up by double-digit winning seasons each year.  His $2,900,000 is a drop in his oil rich alumni's bucket.

5. Mike Leach—An undefeated season so far, a turnaround of a program and all for less that two million mark.  He's been a good buy for Texas Tech at only $1,750,000.

6. Joe Paterno—At $1,500,000, Paterno is the buy of the bunch hands down.  JoPa can still walk the walk even if it's with a cane and a limp.  He not only wins, but he does it with class.  If you don't love this man, you can't love college football.

7. Jim Leavitt—Ok, not the amount of wins on the others on the list, but I had to put him here for consistency.  Jim Leavitt built this team from nothing and has had them in bowl games the last three years and had them up in the ratings at different times.  At $1,500,000, they are lucky he hasn't jumped the University of South Florida ship.

8. Gary Patterson—TCU is 8-1 and has been a consistent winner with Patterson.  What a wise move to forgo leaving with Fran and staying loyal.  That loyalty is being paid back now and Patterson's $1,300,000 salary is soon to go up.

9. Todd Graham—Tulsa got a bargain in Graham.  Now at 8-0, he seems to have turned the program around.  His 1,100,000 salary makes him the best buy on this list on a win per dollar ratio.

10. Mike Gundy—7-1 and his Oklahoma State team took Texas to the wire last week.  I have a feeling that this school is going to have to pony up some more dollars to keep this coach with all the vacancies coming up.  His $1,050,000 is chump change to some schools that would love to have him.