By the time James Franklin coaches the Nittany Lions in their 2022 season opener on Sept. 1 at Purdue, his career earnings at Penn State will have reached over $50 million.
To be exact: $50,290,833.
The total jumps another $1.98 million – for a grand total of $52,270,833 — when you add 396 private aircraft hours provided to Franklin by Penn State, valued conservatively at $5,000 per hour on the private market, according to pricing by charter service company Airshare for roundtrips from University Park Airport to Franklin-favored locales like Florida, Georgia and Colorado.
There’s more.
After his PSU paycheck on Aug. 31, Franklin is still due $2.25 million more in guaranteed money for 2022. Of that total, $1.75 million is from his monthly salary of $583,333; $500,000 in a retention bonus if he is employed by Penn State on Dec. 31, 2022; and $2,500 in automobile allowances.
In all, Franklin’s total compensation for 2022 – base, retention bonus, access to insurance cash and car stipend – should be, at minimum, $8,510,000. That’s $23,315 per day. He’s also eligible for an additional $1 million in annual bonuses.
Franklin was hired on Jan. 11, 2014, and is on his fourth contract at Penn State. Announced on Nov. 23, 2021, it’s a 10-year-year, $85 million deal – plus the possibility of performance bonuses – that runs through Dec. 31, 2031. His other contracts with Penn State were announced Aug. 18, 2017, and Dec. 6, 2019.
Since that December 2019 deal, the Nittany Lions are 12-11. Franklin’s overall record at Penn State in eight seasons is 67-34 (.634), and his teams are 42-28 in the Big Ten (.600). Under Franklin, Penn State has won one Big Ten championship (2016), has been to three New Year’s 6 bowls and is 3-4 in postseason games. The Nittany Lions have finished the season ranked in the AP Top 10 three times (2016-17-19).
For some dollars and sense context:
Penn State athletics submits an annual financial report to the NCAA, which covers its fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. Cumulatively, Penn State reported these numbers for what were Franklin’s first seven seasons at Penn State, fiscal years 2014-15 through 2020-2021:
Penn State athletics reported total gross revenues of $1.003 billion, from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2021.
At the same time, from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2021, Penn State spent a total of $33.84 million on football scholarships — about $4.8 million per year for the entire squad. Franklin will make about $8.5 million in 2022.
THE BREAKDOWN
Franklin’s annual compensation is broken down below.
Categories included are for total annual compensation (sans private aircraft hours); his base salary; an annual retention bonus for being employed the last day of the year; and incentive performance bonuses for the Big Ten, postseason appearances and coach of the year honors. Starting in 2020, Franklin has annual access to the cash in a $1 million life insurance policy Penn State has taken out on him. He also gets $10,000 as an automobile stipend. Standard university benefits and perks, such as health and medical insurance, are not included.
It should be noted that Franklin’s latest contract, while approved by the Penn State Board of Trustees’ compensation committee, was negotiated under the leadership of Eric Barron, who retired as president on May 8, and athletic director Sandy Barbour, who will retire on June 30. Same goes for contracts No. 2 and 3. Their successors are president Neeli Bendapudi and athletic director Patrick Kraft, who begins on July 1.
FRANKLIN’S COMPENSATION: YEAR BY YEAR
Year | Total | Base | Retention | Bonus | Car | Insurance | Private Air |
2014 | $4.41M | $3.9M | $300K | $200K Pinstripe | $10K | — | 35 hrs. |
2015 | $4.61M | $4.1M | $300K | $200K Taxslayer | $10K | — | 35 hrs. |
2016 | $5.41M | $4.2M | $300K | $900K B1G, Rose, B10 COY, National COY | $10K | — | 35 hrs. |
2017 | $4.91M | $4.3M | $300K | $300K Fiesta | $10K | — | 50 hrs. |
2018 | $5.01M | $4.5M | $300K | $200K Citrus | $10K | — | 50 hrs. |
2019 | $5.96M | $5.35M | $300K | $300K Cotton | $10K | — | 50 hrs. |
2020 | $6.71M | $5.4M | $300K | — | $10K | $1M | 50 hrs. |
2021 | $7.01M | $5.5M | $500K | — | $10K | $1M | 50 hrs. |
2022 thru 8/31 | $6.26M | $5.25M | — | — | $7.5K | $1M | 41 hrs. |
Total | $50.29M | $42.5M | $2.6M | $2.1M | $87.5K | $3M | 396 hrs. |
BY COMPARISON…
Salaries for college football head coaches have skyrocketed over the past decade.
According to USA Today’s annual survey of FBS football coaches’ salaries, in 2011 Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz was the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten Conference, at $3.785 million. That ranked him fifth in the country, behind the 1-2 tandem of Texas’ Mack Brown ($5.192 million) and Alabama’s Nick Saban ($4.6 million).
In 2022, Saban will make $10.6 million, while in the Big Ten, head coaches Ryan Day of Ohio State and Mel Tucker of Michigan State will each make $9.5 million. Jim Harbaugh, whose Michigan Wolverines won the 2021 Big Ten title, will make $7.02 million in 2022. Ferentz will make $7 million this year.
COST PER WIN
With the advent of the transfer portal and the proliferation of Name Image Likeness (NIL) opportunities and thinly-veiled pay-for-play deals, college coaching as a profession has never been tougher. Or more competitive, on and off the field. (Or as lucrative.)
But, sports is ultimately a performance-based business, and that certainly includes college football.
For Franklin, here’s how his annual compensation breaks down when divided by victories. In other words, what Penn State has spent since 2014-2021 for each win, when it comes to its head coach:
Year | Record | Cost Per Win |
2014 | 7-6 | $630,476 |
2015 | 7-6 | $658,571 |
2016 | 11-3 | $491,818 |
2017 | 11-2 | $446,363 |
2018 | 9-4 | $556,666 |
2019 | 11-2 | $541,818 |
2020 | 4-5 | $1,677,500 |
2021 | 7-6 | $1,001,428 |