Today is Equal Pay Day, a symbolic and sad holiday invented in the ‘90s to remind us yearly of how little women are paid for their labor in comparison to men. A few weeks ago, ESPN published a list of the highest-paid public employees in each state, as of 2017, along with their salaries during that year. (You can see it broken down along with average state salaries, as well, if you’re so inclined.)
Many of these exorbitantly compensated people, you may notice, are people who make their money instructing (unpaid) young men how to best throw a ball around. Some of them, as our sporty friends over at Deadspin noted in 2013, also get additional cash from TV deals and boosters, in addition to your very own hard-earned tax dollars. From what I can gather, some of them are not even very good at their jobs: The people over at Rutgers University have paid their coach $2.1 million a year for two seasons to win exactly six games, which comes out to more than $600,000 a game.
But perhaps, in addition to all these other indignities, you will notice something else about 49 out of these 50 salaried professionals.
Happy Equal Pay Day, ladies!
ALABAMA: Nick Saban, Football coach, $11.1 million
SOUTH CAROLINA: Dabo Swinney, Football coach, $8.5 million
KENTUCKY: John Calipari, Basketball coach, $7.1 million
MICHIGAN: Jim Harbaugh, Football coach, $7 million
OHIO: Urban Meyer, Football coach, $6.4 million
FLORIDA: Jimbo Fisher, Former football coach, $5.7 million
ARIZONA: Rich Rodriguez, Former football coach, $5.6 million
TEXAS: Tom Herman, Football coach, $5.5 million
KANSAS: Bill Self, Basketball coach, $4.8 million
PENNSYLVANIA: James Franklin, Football coach, $4.6 million
IOWA: Kirk Ferentz, Football coach, $4.6 million
MISSISSIPPI: Dan Mullen, Former football coach, $4.5 million
OKLAHOMA: Mike Gundy, Football coach, $4.2 million
ARKANSAS: Bret Bielema, Former football coach, $4.2 million
WASHINGTON: Chris Petersen, Football coach, $4.1 million
TENNESSEE: Butch Jones, Former football coach, $4.1 million
GEORGIA: Kirby Smart, Football coach, $3.8 million
UTAH: Kyle Wittingham, Football coach, $3.7 million
CALIFORNIA: Jim Mora, Former football coach, $3.6 million
WEST VIRGINIA: Bob Huggins, Basketball coach, $3.6 million
LOUISIANA: Ed Orgeron, Football coach, $3.5 million
MINNESOTA: PJ Fleck, Football coach, $3.5 million
VIRGINIA: Bronco Mendenhall, Football coach, $3.4 million
INDIANA: Archie Miller, Basketball coach, $3.2 million
WISCONSIN: Paul Chryst, Football coach, $3.2 million
CONNECTICUT: Kevin Ollie, Basketball coach, $3.2 million
ILLINOIS: Lovie Smith, Football coach, $3 million
OREGON: Willie Taggart, Football coach, $2.9 million
NEBRASKA: Mike Riley, Former Football coach, $2.9 million
COLORADO: Mike MacIntyre, Football coach, $2.8 million
MARYLAND: Mark Turgeon, Basketball coach, $2.6 million
MISSOURI: Barry Odom, Football coach, $2.4 million
NORTH CAROLINA: Larry Fedora, Football coach, $2.3 million
NEW JERSEY: Chris Ash, Football coach, $2.1 million
IDAHO: Bryan Harsin, Football coach, $1.6 million
WYOMING: Craig Bohl, Football coach, $1.4 million salary
NEVADA: Eric Musselman, Basketball coach, $1 million
MASSACHUSETTS: Michael Collins, Chancellor and SVP, Health Sciences at UMass System: $1 million
RHODE ISLAND: Dan Hurley, Basketball coach, $950,000
NEW MEXICO: Bob Davie, Football coach, $822,960
HAWAII: David J. Engle, Neurosurgeon, $786,000
NORTH DAKOTA: Joshua Wynne, Dean of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences: $674,600 salary in 2017
NEW YORK: Lewis Pasternak, Anesthesiologist, Stony Brook University Hospital: $673,600
SOUTH DAKOTA: Mary D. Nettleman, Dean of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine: $577,700
VERMONT: Frederick C. Morin III, $559,600 salary in 2017
VERMONT: Frederick C. Morin III, Dean of the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine: $559,600
ALASKA: Keith Meyer, President of Alaska Pipeline Development Corp: $550,000
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Mark W. Huddleston, President of University of New Hamphire: $492,000
MONTANA: Clay Christian, Higher Education commissioner: $309,000 salary in 2017
MAINE: James H. Page, Chancellor of University of Maine: $277,500
DELAWARE: Mark Holodick, School District superintendent: $246,000