Taggart’s salary ranks 15th in U.S.

Florida State football coach Willie Taggart’s $5 million per year salary ranks 15th in the nation among NCAA head football coaches, according to the annual coaches salary data that USA Today released on Tuesday.

He’s the second-highest paid football coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with Clemson coach Dabo Swinney leading all coaches in the nation with a $9,255,00 annual salary.

The Seminoles have gone 8-11 since Taggart took over the coaching reigns in December 2017. FSU had its first losing season (5-7) since 1976 in his first season as coach and the Seminoles are currently 3-4.

Taggart is the second-highest paid football coach at a public university in the state, with Florida’s Dan Mullen’s $6,070,000 salary being the highest.

The Gators have gone 17-4 under Mullen and are at the top of the Southeastern Conference East standings with a 7-1 overall, 4-1 SEC record. Mullen’s salary is the fourth-highest in the SEC.

South Florida coach Charlie Strong’s $5 million salary is the highest among “Group of Five” schools and ranks 16th in the nation. His salary is nearly $1.5 million more than Houston’s Dana Holgorsen’s, who is the next highest “Group of Five” coach on the list.

Central Florida coach Josh Heupel’s $2.3 million salary ranks 64th in the NCAA and is tied for fifth in the American Athletic Conference with Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell. The Knights have gone 17-3 under Heupel and won the AAC championship in 2018.

Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin’s $1,432,000 salary ranks 80th in the nation and third in Conference USA. Kiffin led FAU to an 11-3 record in his first season with the Owls in 2017, the program’s first season over .500 since 2008.

Florida International coach Butch Davis’ $992,250 salary ranks 84th in the country. He’s led the Golden Panthers to a 21-12 record the past three seasons.

Miami coach Manny Diaz’s salary was not listed, since UM is not a public university with public records.