Hypothetical: Who’s your pick for Utah HC (assuming KW leaves)?

Probably just here to Urban Meyer us. Which I’m ok with.

If those two years are DeBoer at UW level, sign me up.

The truth as I see it is that any coach who wins 9 games at Utah will be a commodity going forward. And I’ll take as many of those as you’re willing to throw at me. Whitt is a unicorn and current recruits have no idea who McBride is or that Urban coached at Utah. That’s fan stuff.

Utah’s current recruits see Utah in the same way future coaches outside of Scalley will. Come in, show out, move on and get paid. I say let’s ride that wave instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.

For what it’s worth, here are the salaries of current Big 12 football head coaches with the exception of Sitake:

Highest-Paid Big 12 Football Coaches

1. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State – $7.75 million
2. Lance Leipold, Kansas – $7.5 million
3. Kyle Whittingham, Utah – $6.525 million
4. Deion Sanders, Colorado – $5.7 million
5. Chris Klieman, Kansas State – $5.25 million
6. Sonny Dykes, TCU – $5,008,414 million
7. Dave Aranda, Baylor – $4,540,885 million
8. Willie Fritz, Houston – $4.5 million
9. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech – $4,247,960
10. Matt Campbell, Iowa State – $4,009,886 million
11. Neal Brown, West Virginia – $4 million
12. Gus Malzahn, UCF – $4 million
13. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State – $3.95 million
14. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati – $3.6 million
15. Brent Brennan, Arizona – $3.1 million

With, inflation, let’s say that, before bonuses, Utah can pay its next football coach $7M per annum. I think that would get some nationwide interest.

Now, let’s take a look at the highest-paid football head coaches around the nation:

1 Kirby Smart Georgia $13,282,580
2 Dabo Swinney Clemson $11,132,775*
3 Steve Sarkisian Texas $10,600,000*
4 Lincoln Riley USC $10,043,418*
5 Ryan Day Ohio State $10,021,250
6 Mike Norvell Florida State $10,000,000
7 Kalen DeBoer Alabama $10,000,000*
8 Brian Kelly LSU $9,975,000*
9 Mark Stoops Kentucky $9,013,600*
10 Lane Kiffin Ole Miss $9,000,000*
11 Eliah Drinkwitz Missouri $9,000,000
12 Josh Heupel Tennessee $9,000,000
13 James Franklin Penn State $8,500,000*
14 Dan Lanning Oregon $8,200,000
15 Brent Venables Oklahoma $8,152,000
16 Mario Cristobal Miami (FL) $7,783,059*
17 Mike Gundy Oklahoma State $7,750,000*
18 Luke Fickell Wisconsin $7,725,000
19 Jedd Fisch Washington $7,700,023*
20 Lance Leipold Kansas $7,500,000*
21 Billy Napier Florida $7,370,000
22 Jonathan Smith Michigan State $7,250,000*
23 Kirk Ferentz Iowa $7,000,000*
24 Mike Elko Texas A&M $7,000,000*
25 Hugh Freeze Auburn $6,728,100
26 P.J. Fleck Minnesota $6,700,000*
27 Pat Narduzzi Pittsburgh $6,699,551
28 Marcus Freeman Notre Dame $6,687,754*
29 Bret Bielema Illinois $6,650,000
30 Kyle Whittingham Utah $6,525,000*

Whitt is number #30 after 20 years of consistent success. What strikes me is that there are a lot of coaches in SEC/B1G schools who haven’t achieved the level of what he’s done (look at Sunbelt Billy in Florida, who hasn’t had one winning season yet) and are getting paid more than he is. That’s what sitting at the college football big-boy table does for you.