SEC baseball coaching salaries: Here's how much each coach gets paid

Aria Gerson
Nashville Tennessean

As the SEC continues to establish itself as the top conference in college baseball, its coaches continue to reap the benefits in their compensation.

Eight public-school coaches will make over $1 million in 2023, according to salary records obtained by the USA TODAY Sports Network.

Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin routinely makes over $1 million, but because Vanderbilt is a private school not subject to public records laws, his most recent salary figures won't become available until tax records are released in 2024. The most recent records available are from 2021, when he was the highest-paid coach in the SEC and the only one to make over $2 million. However, his pay in the 2021 calendar year also included the actual payout of nearly $650,000 in deferred compensation that the school had reported in prior years.

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco saw a raise of $425,000 after winning the 2022 College World Series. However, in 2023, Bianco's Rebels finished last in the SEC.

Auburn's Butch Thompson was the other big winner from 2022, as he saw a bump of $250,000 after leading the Tigers to the College World Series.

Corbin received almost $900,000 more in 2021 than in 2020 after leading the Commodores to a runner-up finish in the 2021 College World Series. He was given an extension in December 2021.

South Carolina and Kentucky got the most bang for their bucks during the 2023 season. Both have coaches who make $600,000 or less, and both are on track to potentially host regionals.

Alabama's Brad Bohannon was fired in May amid a gambling probe, but he was set to be the second-lowest paid coach in the SEC in 2023.

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Some SEC coaches make more than MLB managers

According to data compiled by USA TODAY Sports, 11 MLB managers make less than $1.5 million, including the Cardinals' Oli Marmol, who led his team to a postseason appearance and National League Central title in 2022, and 2019 American League Manager of the Year Rocco Baldelli.

Four SEC coaches − Corbin, Bianco, Schlossnagle and Vitello − make $1.5 million or more, making them higher paid than more than one-third of MLB managers.

SEC baseball coaching salaries

Listed below are the salaries of each SEC baseball coach for the 2022-23 season, except where noted. Incentives are not included. Except as noted, amounts based on contracts obtained from the schools through open-records requests. Totals do not include amounts that may have been earned as annual incentive bonuses in other years, the value of standard university benefits such as health care or the value of potentially taxable items, including, but not limited to, cars or car stipends; country club memberships; game tickets for the regular season, postseason and other sports. Totals also do not include amounts from coaches’ self-reported athletically related outside-income reports.

Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin: $2,447,059

Note: Corbin's pay is from the school’s most recently available federal tax records, which cover compensation for the 2021 calendar year, including the value of benefits, perks and performance bonuses actually paid. It also includes $647,705 that the school had reported as deferred compensation on prior years’ tax records.

Ole Miss' Mike Bianco: $1.625 million

Note: Pay includes base salary from state contract, plus compensation from contract with the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that declined to release the agreement. The university provided summary of current contract-year pay under that agreement.

Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle: $1.58 million

Note: Total includes a one-time payment of $170,000 that Schlossnagle received for being employed as Texas A&M's head coach on September 1, 2022.

Tennessee's Tony Vitello: $1.5 million

Arkansas' Dave Van Horn: $1.35 million

Florida's Kevin O'Sullivan: $1,290,567

Mississippi State's Chris Lemonis: $1.275 million

Note: Pay includes base salary from state contract, plus compensation from contract with the Bulldog Club, Inc., a private nonprofit organization that declined to release the agreement. University provided summary of current contract-year pay under that agreement.

LSU's Jay Johnson: $1.25 million

Auburn's Butch Thompson: $1.25 million

Georgia's Scott Stricklin: $655,000

South Carolina's Mark Kingston: $600,000

Kentucky's Nick Mingione: $575,000

Alabama's Brad Bohannon: $500,000

Note: Bohannon was fired May 4. The Tuscaloosa News reported that Alabama intends to fire Bohannon for cause.

Missouri's Steve Bieser: $475,000.08

Note: Bieser's contract specifies that he may receive a portion of proceeds from an endorsement contract. That amount is not included in this salary.

USA TODAY sports reporters Steve Berkowitz and Bob Nightengale contributed to this report.