Mike Krzyzewski Earns $9.7 Million, Is Highest Paid Coach in American Sports (That We Know Of)
By Ty Duffy
Mike Krzyzewski instructs Duke students who spend extra-curricular hours playing with a round, orange ball. He gets paid handsomely for it. Coach K will earn $9,682,032 in 2014 according to USA Today.
That is about $2.7 million more than Nick Saban, the next highest-paid college coach. That is nearly $4 million more than the next highest-paid college basketball coach, Rick Pitino. That is $9,682,032 more than the amount earned by Duke basketball players in 2014.
This figure appears to be significantly more than any other coach in an American professional or college sport that we know of (Bill Belichick’s true salary has only been crudely estimated). The next highest paid, New Orleans’ Sean Payton earns north of $8 million according to ESPN.
Duke presumably is shelling out to thwart any latent NBA interest. Krzyzewski discussed the Lakers’ job in 2004, but turned down a reported five-year $40 million deal.
Will this be enough for David Cutcliffe to acknowledge someone is “really getting rich” from college athletics?
[USA Today Sports]