Report: Deion Sanders' Salary at Colorado Ranks Third in Pac-12

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News ranks the salaries of the 11 head coaches in the conference

With Deion Sanders joining the Pac-12 football coaching fraternity, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News put together a ranking of the salaries of the 11 head coaches in the Pac-12. (Stanford’s coaching job remains vacant.)

Colorado is putting up a lot of money to have Sanders be its football coach.

According to the Denver Post, Sanders agreed to a five-year deal worth $29.5 million, and that’s not including bonuses and incentives.

Here is an excerpt from that Denver Post report:

Sanders, 55, would be slated to earn $5.5 million in his first season, with a base pay of $500,000 supplemented by $1.75 million for radio, television and public appearances; another $1.75 million for promotion and fundraising; and another $1.5 million for “development of the student-athlete.

That compensation would increase to $5.7 million in ’24, $5.9 million in ’25, $6.1 million in ’26 and $6.3 million in ‘27.

It’s the largest financial package ever given to a CU football coach.

“This is the time for us to put all the chips in the center,” Colorado athletic director Rick George said.

Cal's Justin Wilcox is fairly high on the list, coming in at No. 5 based on his average annual income from the extension he signed a year ago.

With Sanders under contract and only one school with a vacancy (Stanford), the salary structure for Pac-12 coaches looks like this, according to the Mercury-News report:

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1. USC’s Lincoln Riley
Average salary: $9 million (estimated)
(Source: The Hotline)

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2. Utah’s Kyle Whittingham

Average salary: $6.83 million

(Source: USA Today)

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3. Colorado’s Deion Sanders

Average salary: $5.9 million

(Source: Denver Post)

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4. Oregon’s Dan Lanning

Average salary: $4.85 million

(Source: Oregonlive.com)

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5. Cal’s Justin Wilcox

Average salary: $4.75 million

(Source: SI.com)

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6. UCLA’s Chip Kelly

Average salary: $4.7 million

(Source: ESPN)

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7. Washington’s Kalen DeBoer

Average salary: $4.5 million

(Source: Seattle Times)

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8. ASU’s Kenny Dillingham

Average salary: $3.8 million (estimated)

(Source: The Athletic)

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9. Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith

Average salary: $3.76 million

(Source: Oregonlive.com)

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10. Arizona’s Jedd Fisch

Average salary: $2.8 million

(Source: Tucson.com)

.

11. Washington State’s Jake Dickert

Average salary: $2.7 million

(Source: Spokesman.com)

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Cover photo of Deion Sanders by Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports

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