Kirby Smart, Jim Harbaugh earn big bonuses; A look at high-profile coaches, including Nick Saban (2024)

Not only did Georgia coach Kirby Smart earn his second straight College Football Playoff national championship, he pocketed $1.35 million.

Smart is just one of a number of college football head coaches at Bowl Subdivision public schools to hit benchmarks in their contracts this season. According to a report by USA TODAY, those benchmarks are worth a total of just more than $12.2 million in bonuses.

The number was nearly $13.6 million a year. The slight decrease is a result of a private school advancing to the CFP, and TCU coach Sonny Dykes’ bonus is not publicly available.

Smart’s bonus breaks down as follows:

• $50,000: Sixth win, eligible for non-CFP bowl game
• $25,000: 8-0record assures that team will be playing in one of SEC’s top seven non-CFP bowl games
• $100,000: Win at least share of SEC division title, will play in conference title game
• $100,000: 12-0record assures that team will be playing in one of six games affiliated with the College Football Playoff
• $200,000: Win SEC title game
• $325,000: Play in CFP semifinal
• $50,000: SEC coach of the year (coaches’ vote)
• $250,000: Win CFP semifinal
• $250,000: Win CFP title game

Alabama’s Nick Saban earned $200,000.

It breaks down like this:

• $65,000: Sixth win, eligible for bowl game not amongthe six connected to the College Football Playoff
• $25,000: 8-2record (5-2 in conference play) assures that team will be playing in one of SEC’s Pool of Sixbowl games
• $110,000: Play in CFP non-semifinal game

In addition to Smart’s $1.35 million, here are some other notables:

• Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh: $2.05 million.
• LSU’s Brian Kelly: $575,000.
• Clemson’s Dabo Swinney: $400,000.

You check out the full list of coaches and schools here.

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.