Football coaches' salaries may not pay off on the field

So, what are we paying college football coaches these days.

And why? USA Today came up with its annual report on the salaries of the nation's major college football coaches. The newspaper obtained tax records and other information to decipher base salaries, outside university income and maximum bonuses paid. There were private schools, including BYU, Boston College and Notre Dame, where no information was available.

You might be interested in a few of these paychecks and who is paying for what.

For instance, New Mexico's coach Mike Locksley has had a heck of a time getting things rolling since he took over for Rocky Long, posting one of the worst win/loss records among 120 Division I programs, and his stay in Albuquerque has been steeped in controversy. Yet Locksley's $750,00 salary is equal to Troy Calhoun at Air Force and more than bowl-bound San Diego State coach Brady Hoke ($675,000), whose standard of living costs are significantly higher.

The highest-paid Mountain West coach is Big East-bound TCU coach Gary Patterson, who makes $1.6 million, somewhat more than Utah's Kyle Whittingham at $1.1 million. But if the numbers are correct, it takes about that much to hire Dave Christensen to work at Wyoming ($861,000), and the Cowboys/Christensen were Locksley's only win this year at UNM.

Chris Peterson at Boise State, bound to meet Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, makes $1.4 million, yet in one of the most thrilling games of the season, the Broncos lost to Nevada and Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault, who is paid $443,093. And that's less than UNLV's Bobby Hauk ($500,000), who finished his first year for the Rebels at 2-11.

Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, who lost to Bronco Mendenhall and BYU last year in Dallas, makes $4.2 million, one of the highest salaries in the country, but it is not as much as Texas coach Mack Brown ($5.1 million), who couldn't get the Longhorns in a bowl game this fall.

Some perspective: Ohio State president Gordon Gee, a former University of Utah student and BYU law professor, is the highest-paid public university president in the U.S. with a base salary of $802,125 and total compensation package of $1.6 million. But his football coach, Jim Tressel, makes twice as much ($3.5 million) in the land of bow ties and vests.

BYU plays UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl a week from Saturday, and one of the Miners' best wins this year came over SMU, whose coach, June Jones, makes $2.1 million in Conference USA. Price, the victor in that game, makes $383,346.