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Raise gives Hugh Freeze 7th-highest salary among SEC coaches

Freeze received a one-year extension and a fat-ass raise earlier this week. Here's how his new $3 million contract stacks up against his SEC peers.

By Jeff Gray
"I'm comin' for ya Nicky." "The fuck you are."
"I'm comin' for ya Nicky." "The fuck you are."
Kevin C. Cox

On Tuesday, Ole Miss announced it had extended Hugh Freeze's contract by one year and given him a $1 million raise that hikes his annual base salary up to $3 million.

In the wake of the Rebels' disastrous Egg Bowl loss, there's been a good bit of arguing over whether Freeze deserves the raise (he does) and whether the rabid faith Ole Miss fans have placed in him over the last two years has been misappropriated (to some degree, yes). But what's not up for debate is the fact that Hugh Freeze is rich as fuck.

Freeze's three millie ties him for seventh highest among SEC coaches, an impressive jump for a guy who was tied with Kentucky's Mark Stoops as the league's lowest paid head man to start the week.

Below is a list of the base salaries (excluding incentives and buyouts) of all of the conference's coaches, as well as their 2013 record.

School Coach Salary (in millions) 2013 record
Alabama Nick Saban $5.5 11-1
Texas A&M Kevin Sumlin $5* 8-4
LSU Les Miles $4.3 9-3
Auburn Gus Malzahn $3.85 12-1
South Carolina Steve Spurrier $3.3 10-2
Georgia Mark Richt $3.2 8-4
Florida Will Muschamp $3 4-8
Ole Miss Hugh Freeze $3 7-5
Arkansas Brett Bielma $2.95 3-9
Tennessee Butch Jones $2.95 5-7
Mississippi St. Dan Mullen $2.65 6-6
Missouri Gary Pinkel $2.35 11-2
Kentucky Mark Stoops $2.2 2-10
Vanderbilt James Franklin undisclosed 8-4

* Unofficial

A few housekeeping notes here: Saban reportedly has a $7 million contract from Alabama sitting on his desk that he's gonna tear up and throw out the car window on his way to Austin considering. The details of Sumlin's new contract have not been made official, though $5 million per year has been the rumored amount. Vanderbilt's standing as snooty assholes a private institution means they don't have to release financial information on their athletic staff (though I've seen reports that claim Franklin is making somewhere around $1.8 million).

Some thoughts:

  • Freeze ranks seventh in salary but ninth in 2013 wins. In fairness, he coached for around $2 million this season, but will need to improve that record in 2014 to earn his contract hike.
  • Pinkel was by far the best bargain in terms of bang for your buck, costing Mizzou under $214,000 per win.
  • Stoops, despite having the lowest known salary in the league, was somehow still the worst bargain, with Kentucky forking out $1.1 million per win.
  • Bielma's meager investment/return ratio was likely offset by his contribution to the economy of Northwest Arkansas in the form of late-night trips to Fayetteville Dairy Queens.
  • Three coaches that make at least $2.95 million per year finished with sub-.500 records (Bielma, Jones and Muschamp).
  • You know how many lap dances 3.3 million bucks will buy you at a mediocre strip club outside of Columbia? Steve Spurrier sure as hell does.