According to data collected on coaches salaries, schools’ football budgets, and power-adjusted success, Michigan State Spartans coach Mark Dantonio is the ranked the fourth-best coach for the money. He comes in just behind Alabama coach Nick Saban at No. 3 and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher at No. 2.
Forbes used “the most recent salon data sets available”, which were comprised of records from 2012-13 and 2013-14 while applying the financial data from years 2011-12 and 2012-13. The calculations did not take into account raises received by the coaches’, particularly Dantonio’s 83% salary increase.
His previous salary is 8.5% of Michigan State’s annual football expenses. With the recent increase, his salary now takes up a significant 15.78 % of the school’s annual football expenses. The only other Big Ten coach to make the list was Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, whose salary accounts for nearly 20% of the school’s football expenses.
The Spartans went 7-6 in 2012-13, after close losses despite consecutive wins earlier on in the season. They outdid themselves and went 13-1 last season, the program’s highest ranking season since 1967.
