Harsin’s 2021 salary, buyout rank

[aubiefifty 18,236]

Where Bryan Harsin’s 2021 salary, buyout rank nationally, in the SEC

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

3 minutes

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Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin watches as Auburn trails Georgia State during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)AP

Bryan Harsin is in the first season of a six-year contract at Auburn, where he took over as head coach late last December. The Tigers’ new coach will earn $5 million this year, with annual increases of $100,000 each January.

That makes Harsin, for the 2021 season, the 19th-highest paid head coach in college football and the seventh-highest paid coach in the SEC, according to USA Today’s annual head coach salaries database, which was updated Thursday.

Harsin’s $5 million salary this year puts him squarely in the middles of the pack in the SEC and ranks behind Alabama’s Nick Saban ($9.7 million), LSU’s Ed Orgeron ($9 million), Florida’s Dan Mullen ($7.57 million), Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fished ($7.5 million) Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($7.13 million) and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops ($5.26 million) among SEC coaches. Those six coaches rank first, second, sixth, seventh, eighth and 15th nationally, respectively, in salary for 2021. Harsin’s $5 million salary is equal to that of Mississippi State coach Mike Leach this year.

The man Harsin replaced on the Plains, Gus Malzahn, is earning $2.32 million in his first season as head coach at UCF. That salary ranks 63rd among FBS coaches, though Malzahn is still collecting a substantial buyout from Auburn. Harsin’s replacement at Boise State, Andy Avalos, is earning $1.5 million this season, which ranks 77th nationally among head coaches.

RELATED: How much does Auburn owe Gus Malzahn and former coaching staff in buyouts?

Harsin’s six-year deal with Auburn also includes a $17.79 million buyout, equal to 70 percent of the remaining money on his deal as of the end of the season. That buyout sum also ranks 19th among all FBS head coaches this year and fifth among SEC coaches. Only Fisher ($95.57 million), Saban ($38.4 million), Tennessee’s Josh Heupel ($20.66 million) and Stoops ($19.92 million) have larger buyout totals among SEC coaches.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[aubiefifty 18,236]

i wonder who the first person to bitch about harsins buyout will be?

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

8 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Only Fisher ($95.57 million)

?!?  Jimbo and his agent must have naked pics of somebody cause that's just crazy.

[AUpreacherman22 3,945]

1 hour ago, SRBautigerfan said:

?!?  Jimbo and his agent must have naked pics of somebody cause that's just crazy.

That number is beyond insane!!!!  Before the bama game there were probably some aggies starting a gofundme.  🤣🤣🤣

[autiger88 3,856]

9 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i wonder who the first person to bitch about harsins buyout will be?

Doesn't it go down every year, or did I dream that when it first was announced?