Where Does Neal Brown’s Salary, Buyout Actually Rank Among CFB Coaches?

Since Neal Brown has become such a talking point lately, many are speculating about his job security at WVU. And conveniently, USA Today released their annual database of the salaries of every football coach on Wednesday.

While Brown’s contact extension after the success of the 2023 season sparked debate if West Virginia to lock themselves into him following one solid year, the database shows he’s far from being overpaid in comparison to his peers around the country.

Brown’s $4M annually salary comes in at No. 54 nationally and is tied at No. 11 in the Big 12 with Gus Malzahn of UCF. His current buyout of $9.775 million ranks as tied for the 12th highest in the conference.

Georgia’s Kirby Smart brings in the most in annual salary in the country at about $13.2 million, granted he has rings to make all that money worth it for the Bulldogs. He also has the highest buyout (by far) at a staggering $118 million, ensuring he will never be fired barring some scandal.

As far as the among Big 12 coaches, Kansas State’s Chris Klieman has a $29.625 million buyout.

Back to Brown, below includes an explanation about the extension he signed in March and how it actually serves to assist the WVU program more than his past contract.

It’s true Brown was awarded an extension to keep him leader of the West Virginia Mountaineers through the 2027 season, but did you know his new deal is actually more friendly to WVU as a program? A major obstacle in removing Brown prior to the 2023 season when he was entering the year with a losing record since arriving in Morgantown in 2019 was his buyout. This extension actually now benefits the program itself and provides Brown less security.

Brown’s new deal reduces his salary over the next three years by a total of $400,000. To break this down further, Brown will also make $4 million annually in 2025 before a jump to $4.3 million in 2026 and $4.4 for 2027, the extra year added. Prior to this extension, Brown was in line to make $4.1 million in 2024, $4.2 million in 2025, $4.4 million in 2026 and would have not had a contact at all in 2027.

In addition to a decrease in his salary, Brown’s buyout, the most important aspect of a contract to a program, has also been slashed from 100% to 75% if he is fired. This means WVU will now owe Brown less than it would have in his old deal if he is let go at any point.

For a related story, WV Sports Now’s Mike Asti explained how Neal Brown should’ve handled the question.