College Football 2011: 5 Coaches Who Deserve a Raise

This college football season has already played host to a great many upsets, epic games and out-of-nowhere surprises. One hallmark of this season has been the crop of head coaches who have really put themselves on the map by taking their programs to new heights.

Taking a program even a bit higher than before is terribly tough, which makes what these guys have done all the more impressive.

Here are five head coaches that deserve a big raise.

Kevin Sumlin

Say what you want about Houston. They win games. And they owe it all to Kevin Sumlin.

Sumlin worked his way up the ladder, serving as an assistant under coaches like Dennis Erickson and Bob Stoops. He was an extremely successful offensive coordinator before being hired as the head coach at Houston.

Sumlin has gone 32-16 so far at Houston and has gone 27-9 if you take out last season when the Cougars lost their starting quarterback Case Keenum.

He is in just his fourth season and already has a former assistant who has been hired as a head coach at a more prominent program than Houston.

Houston—especially if it goes undefeated—must give this guy a huge raise. If they don't, there's no way they'll keep him.

Mike Gundy

Forget what you think you know about Mike Gundy and his temper. The truth is, his "I'm a man, I'm 40" rant is ancient history. In fact, Gundy gives one of the best press conferences of any coach. He's charming, honest and patient with the media.

He's also one hell of a football coach.

Gundy is the winningest head coach in Oklahoma State history and has led them on the best multi-year streak in the program's history. He's gone 35-10 in the past four seasons and doesn't appear to be slowing down.

Gundy was also an all-conference quarterback at OSU in the late '80s and the Oklahoma high school football player of the year. He is literally one of Oklahoma State's favorite sons.

A small controversy has come up lately about Gundy's contract. Gundy has stated according to a recent Associated Press article that he wishes to remain at Oklahoma State for his entire career.

He's never been a head coach anywhere else and, if Oklahoma State is smart, he won't ever be.

Dabo Swinney

Dabo Swinney has Clemson going up to the head of the class in the ACC.

The former Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver learned how to win by lettering three years at that university and being on the 1992 national championship team.

Swinney is 27-16 in three and a half seasons and appears to have Clemson headed toward annual BCS contention in an ACC consisting of a mortally-wounded Miami and a very beatable Florida State.

If Swinney keeps winning like this, he'll be courted by bigger, more traditionally powerful programs than Clemson. They need to pay this guy to ensure that he'll be deaf to those phone calls.

Larry Fedora

You may be scratching your head, trying to figure out who Larry Fedora is. That's OK. You'll know soon enough.

Formerly one of the highest paid offensive coordinators in the country at Oklahoma State, Fedora took the head coaching job at Southern Mississippi in 2008 and hasn't disappointed.

While he hasn't yet been able to break through and win a Conference USA title, Fedora has had four straight winning seasons and appears to be having his best season yet. His Golden Eagles are 8-1 and poised to face Houston in the C-USA title game.

Other programs are already looking at this guy, and one of them will get him if Southern Mississippi doesn't do something quickly. Pay the man.

Steve Sarkisian

To be fair, this guy has already been given a raise just a year ago. But it probably won't be enough.

A contract guaranteeing $2.25 million per year will not keep an up-and-comer like Steve Sarkisian in the Evergreen State.

He's got Washington on the upswing. The Huskies won their first bowl game in a decade last season against Nebraska, a team that had beaten them in the regular season by 35 points.

This year's Washington team has three losses, two of which were to Stanford and Oregon. The other was to a Top 15 Nebraska team. If it wasn't for division-mates with two Top 10 teams, Washington would easily lead their division and be a contender to win the PAC-12.

Sarkisian knows how to win and will continue to do so. The Washington Huskies need to prepare themselves so that they can make sure he does all that winning for them and not for someone else.