USA Today: Dantonio 16th-highest paid head coach in 2017

Mark Dantonio isn’t just sitting at No. 16 in the AP Poll – he’s also at No. 16 amongst salaries this season.

USA Today unveiled their annual college football coach salary database, and it shows Dantonio raking in $4,390,492 with a max bonus of $650,000. That’s good to place him fifth amongst Big Ten coaches, making this look like a bargain.

The highest paid coach in the Big Ten is Jim Harbaugh, who is making $7,004,000 – or one dollar for every excuse Michigan fans had after the 14-10 loss to the Spartans. Urban Meyer is making just north of $6.4 million, James Franklin is making $4.6 million and Kirk Ferentz is making $4.55 million to round out Big Ten coaches making more than Dantonio.

Other odds and ends from the database:

• Highest paid: Nick Saban ($11,132,000)
• Highest buyout: Dabo Swinney ($40 million!)
• Highest max bonus: Todd Graham ($3,906,000)
• Lowest paid in Big Ten: Tom Allen ($1,830,000)