The College Coaching Pay Bubble Is Bursting — Time for LSU to Lead, Not Follow

I’m from Louisiana, LSU grad, LSU Law grad. Let’s stop pretending these insane guaranteed contracts and buyouts happen in a vacuum. A lot of the same agents represent coaches, ADs, media personalities, even university execs. There’s an ecosystem here, and everyone in it benefits — except the schools and fans stuck holding the bag.

But here’s the reality no one wants to admit yet: once player pay becomes fully normalized (and yes, it’s only going up even after collective bargaining/salary caps), head coach salaries are coming down. They have to.

Facts:

Average NFL HC salary: $6.6M

Average SEC HC salary: $8.1M

Big Ten: $6.8M

ACC: $5.8M

College coaches — especially in the SEC — are getting paid more than NFL coaches. That’s not sustainable when you now have to pay the roster too.

And at LSU specifically? Brian Kelly was making about $10M per year. LSU’s total projected athlete revenue-share pool is around $20M. One coach was eating roughly half of the players’ compensation pot by himself.

Tell me how that math works long-term.

This model is collapsing. The market will correct. LSU needs to get ahead of it instead of clinging to “but that’s how it’s always been.”