What are the salaries and contract expiration details for the various current head coaches around the ACC? Take an inside look at the numbers surrounding the league’s coaches, and what it will take for various schools to buy out their current deals.
All salary figures are provided via a report from USA Today with detailed head coaching numbers across college football.
ACC FOOTBALL CURRENT HEAD COACH SALARIES (2017)
Dabo Swinney (Clemson): $8,526,800
Bobby Petrino (Louisville): $3,930,434
Bronco Mendenhall (Virginia): $3,400,000
Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech): $3,250,000
Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech): $2,970,891
David Cutcliffe (Duke): $2,613,638
Steve Addazio (Boston College): $2,448,949
Larry Fedora (North Carolina): $2,290,000
Dave Doeren (NC State): $2,212,600
Pat Narduzzi (Pittsburgh): $1,827,735
Dave Clawson (Wake Forest): $1,827,370
NOTES:
- Specific details of the contracts of Mark Richt (Miami) and Dino Babers (Syracuse) are not public. It was reported at the time of Richt’s hire by Miami that he would make approximately $4 million annually, which would have placed him third in total pay among ACC coaches in 2017.
- Former Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher received $5,700,000 in total pay in 2017, ranking second in the ACC behind only Dabo Swinney. Fisher’s buyout is the sum of all monies remaining on the contracts of his assistant coaches not retained by FSU. With multiple coaches on multi-year contracts, this buyout could reach up to $10 million or more for Fisher to buy out of the FSU contract extension he signed last December.
- Dave Doeren’s new contract extension with NC State elevates his pay above $3 million annually, and places him among the top half of ACC coaches in terms of total pay.
LIST OF ACC HEAD COACHES, TOTAL PAY AND CONTRACT EXPIRATIONS
Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
Total Pay: $8,526,800
School pay includes a $1 million signing bonus, and $1 million to be used for payments into a life insurance policy. He received $1.525 million in bonuses from the 2016-17 season after leading the Tigers to the national championship.
Contract Expiration Season: 2024
Bobby Petrino (Louisville)
Total Pay: $3,930,434
School pay includes a $989,584 bonus paid from the prior year.
Contract Expiration Season: 2022
Bronco Mendenhall (Virginia)
Total Pay: $3,400,000
Contract Expiration Season: 2022 (Mendenhall’s original five-year contract, signed in 2015, extends by one year every Dec. 4).
Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech)
Total Pay: $3,250,000
School pay includes a $125,000 bonus paid from the prior year.
Contract Expiration Season: 2023
Dave Doeren (NC State)
Total Pay: $3,000,000 (per new deal following 2017 season)
Doeren will have an escalating annual base salary that pays $1.5 million in 2018 and 2019, $2.25 million in 2020, and $3 million in 2021 and 2022.
Contract Expiration Season: 2022
Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech)
Total Pay: $2,970,891
School pay includes a $425,000 bonus paid from the prior year.
Contract Expiration Season: 2020
David Cutcliffe (Duke)
Total Pay: $2,613,638
Contract Expiration Season: 2020
Steve Addazio (Boston College)
Total Pay: $2,448,949
Contract Expiration Season: 2020
Larry Fedora (North Carolina)
Total Pay: $2,290,000
School pay includes a $50,000 bonus paid from the prior year.
Contract Expiration Season: 2022
Pat Narduzzi (Pittsburgh)
Total Pay: $1,827,735
Contract Expiration Season: 2021
Dave Clawson (Wake Forest)
Total Pay: $1,827,370
Contract Expiration Season: 2024
CURRENT ACC HEAD COACH BUYOUTS (to be paid to the head coach by the school if terminated without cause):
Clemson: $40,000,000
Virginia: $17,425,000
Virginia Tech: $15,000,000
North Carolina: $14,705,000
Louisville: $13,943,750
Georgia Tech: $3,427,574
NOTES:
- Figures for head coach buyouts are unknown for private schools, who are not required to release such details through open records laws. Boston College, Duke, Miami, Syracuse, and Wake Forest fall into this category. In addition, the University of Pittsburgh’s buyout information for Pat Narduzzi has not been made public.
- NC State’s buyout for Dave Doeren’s termination, prior to his new agreement, was $1,776,250. Doeren’s new contract calls for either Doeren or NCSU to pay up to 100 percent of the then-current base salary for the remainder of the contract term if NCSU terminates Doerent without cause, or if Doeren leaves for another job. This is called a ‘termination of convenience’ clause.
- Jimbo Fisher’s termination buyout prior to his departure was $39,312,500 – a figure so astronomical as to virtually assure Fisher’s job security at Florida State no matter how the 2017 season turned out. Now that Fisher is heading to Texas A&M, that buyout figure will likely go down substantially with FSU’s new head coach.