After coming in at No. 9 last year, former LSU football coach Les Miles slipped four spots to No. 13 in USA Today’s latest ranking of the highest paid NCAA coaches in the nation.
Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh topped the list with a salary of $9 million per year.
Miles’ $4,385,567 salary put him as the fourth highest paid coach in the Southeastern Conference behind Alabama coach Nick Saban’s $6,939,395 salary, Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s $5 million salary, and Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn’s salary of $4.7 million.
Miles’ contract also allowed for a maximum bonus of $700,000, of which he has already been paid $100,000.
Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron were fired last month after the LSU Tigers fell to Auburn in an 18-13 loss.
The total cost of buying out Miles’ contract was $12.9 million, but he had already been paid $3 million of that amount at the time of his firing. As a result, LSU will pay somewhere north of $9 million to buy out the three-year contract. The money will be paid over a six-year period, double the length of his contract.
While interim head coach Ed Orgeron is in the running to be hired for the job permanently, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Houston’s Tom Herman also have been floated as possible replacements for Miles. Fisher ranks No. 5 on USA Today’s list, with a salary of $5.25 million, while Herman is No. 35 on the list at $3 million.
