The USA TODAY has published the 2019 version of their annual football coaches salary survey.
Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio is ranked 24th on this list, earning $4,399,437 this season with a max bonus of an additional $650,000. Dantonio currently is under a six-year rolling contract that can be extended by an additional year, every year. Dantonio’s contract was extended at the conclusion of last season and he is now under contract through the 2024-25 season.
Dantonio usually ranks among the teens in this annual survey, but has been steadily dropping through the years as coaching salaries have gone up since Dantonio and MSU agreed to his current contract at the conclusion of the 2015 season.
Dantonio is due a bonus of $4.3 million if he is still Michigan State’s coach by Jan. 15 2020.
Among Big Ten coaches Dantonio ranks 7th behind Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, Penn State’s James Franklin, Northwestern’s Part Fitzgerald, Nebraska’s Scott Frost, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.
Harbaugh is 3rd among all coaches with an annual salary of $ 7.5 million.
Dantonio has a reported buyout of $7 million if he is fired by the school.
The USA TODAY list is not a full list of FBS coaches, as private schools are not obligated to publicize their salaries and some private schools have kept their numbers secret.
