I am now fully entrenched writing my 17th edition of my college preview magazine and have just finished writing all the coaches sections for each of the 120 schools.

One thing that has clearly changed in the past decade plus has been the proliferation of the coaches’ salaries and in 2010 a record 25 college coaches made $2,000,000 or more for the year.

I find it fascinating to see what each of the coaches make per year and believe me much of it is well deserved when you consider the hours they put in and the constant demands by alums all over the country.

Below is a chart of the top 25 highest paid college coaches and the salary information was provided by the USA Today football coaches salary database which combine both guaranteed and non-guaranteed incomes. (Private universities such as USC and Notre Dame did not reveal what they specifically paid their coaches.)

Top 25 Highest Paid Coaches

1. Nick Saban, Alabama
Nick Saban took LSU to a National Title in ’03 and spent ’05 and ’06 as HC of the Miami Dolphins. He guided the Tide to their 13th National Title in his 3rd year and is the highest paid college coach. In 15 yrs as a college HC, he’s never had a losing season and has been named National COY 3 times.

2. Mack Brown, Texas
Mack Brown took over a team that had 3 winning seasons the previous 7 yrs (4-7 prior yr). He has now won or tied for 6 Big 12 South Titles but LY snapped a streak of 20 consec winning seasons as a HC. In ’08 Mack Brown won the Bobby Dodd Nat’l COY.

3. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Prior to Bob Stoops’ arrival, Oklahoma had five consecutive non-winning seasons. Stoops won a National Title in his second season then played in the National Title game again in ’03, ’04 and ’08. OU’s 122 wins the last 11 years are more than any other BCS team.

4. Urban Meyer, Florida
Meyer came in at #4 LY before officially retiring. In just six seasons at Florida, Meyer won two national championships and he also led Utah to an undefeated season in 2004. His overall record was 104-23 which included a great 7-1 bowl record.

5. Les Miles, LSU
Les Miles did a fine job at Okla St with his resume including 2 big upsets over rival OU and 3 bowls in 4 yrs. Miles owns a National Title at LSU, but since has gone all 3 seasons without an SEC West Title, so he continues to be on the hotseat. However he did get the Tigers back to 11 wins last year and signed a new contract.

6. Jim Tressel, Ohio St
In Jim Tressel’s 2nd year, he won a Nat’l Championship, becoming the 1st coach to win an NCAA Title at both the IAA and IA levels. He was the COY in ’02 and now enters his 12th season and has a record of 6 straight Big 10 Titles. Tressel has now led OSU to 6 straight BCS appearances and 7 in 9Y.

7. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Kirk Ferentz took over for a legend Hayden Fry in 1999. In ’02 he led Iowa to its first Big Ten Title since ’90 and also the most wins in school history (11) which he tied in 2009. Ferentz was named the Big Ten COY in ’02, ’04 and ’09 and NFL scouts feel his coaching staff is one of the NCAA’s best and there has been little staff turnover. He is among the highest paid coaches in the NCAA and was given a contract extension through 2015.

8. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
Jim Grobe is just the 5th coach in school history to lead the Demon Deacons to a bowl. After recording B2B winning seasons in his first 2 years, he led the team to their first ACC Title S/’70 (2nd ever) in his 5th year (’06). That year he was AP National COY and has 3 bowls in 4 yrs. Wake is the smallest BCS school which affects the depth and the win total has decreased 4 straight season.

9. Mark Richt, Georgia
Mark Richt is now in his 11th season here and earned SEC COY honors in  ’02 and ’05. Prior to coaching the Bulldogs he was the OC at Florida St from ’94-’00. He has been under fire recently but did just land one of the top incoming frosh classes in the entire country.

10. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas
HC Bobby Petrino had a great run at Louisville, guiding the team to 4 bowls and a pair of #6 AP finishes. He left for the Atlanta Falcons in ’07 and was blasted by the media after quitting with 3 games to go. Arkansas struggled in the changeover in ’08 going 5-7 but Petrino turned it around going 8-5 in ’09 and leading the Hogs to their first ever BCS game.

If you want to check out more on coach’s salaries make sure you check out the USA Today database or there is great article on the 10 Highest Paid Coaches in College Sports.

Also make sure you are checking out my updated 2011 Draft Preview with a Top 10 position by position outlook and the top performers at each position during each drill at the combine.

Don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2011 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants.

Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.

Also check out the bowl matchup section to get the latest and greatest information on all the upcoming bowl games including, game by game stats, 2009 recaps, and checklists for every position and intangible.

MUSIC CITY BOWL

CLEMSON VS KENTUCKY

Clemson is the superior team here as Kentucky has had some misleading finals in their last two games. The Wildcats beat Georgia 34-27 despite being outgained 487-260 and then against Tennessee they lost by only six despite being outgained 446-261. Clemson has an excellent front seven as they have 34 sacks this year and the Tigers have two players in RB CJ Spiller and WR Jacoby Ford that can score anytime they touch the ball. Clemson has lost three straight bowl games and have lost their last two games this year so they should be extra motivated to end those streaks. Clemson has the big talent edge and despite the pro Kentucky crowd I expect the Tigers to playing at their best.

PHIL’S FORECAST: CLEMSON 34 KENTUCKY 20

CONFERENCE BOWL STANDINGS

The MWC is off to a great start with a 3-0 record thanks to Wyoming’s upset over Fresno St in the New Mexico Bowl and two big wins over the Pac-10 the last week. The Big East has picked up a couple of wins including Pittsburgh’s win over North Carolina yester day. CUSA after starting 0-2 has won their last two including SMU’s impressive win over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. The PAC 10 also got their first win of the bowl season yesterday with USC beating Boston College 24-13. The ACC did not have a good day dropping both of their contests yesterday to BCS teams.

BOWL CONFIDENCE CONTEST

Make sure to check the daily blog every day as we will be posting the standings here after every bowl game is played.

There will be two Top 50 leaderboards. The first one will be points won and the second is best win percentage of their points. Sometimes the early leaders are the ones that risked the most on the early bowls and they fall by the wayside as the contest goes on so that is why I will also keep track of those that have the best win percentage.

Out of more than 1200 entries William Meleski continues to lead the contest with 190 points won and a 78% win %. Jeff Hamilton moved up to 2nd with 162 points and an impressive 83% win % and Bob Knight moved into 3rd with 160 points. Frank Scott is #1 in win % with 89%!

I now have 69 points and there are still 25 bowl games to be played.

Thanks again to all that have entered. If you have any problems with your points or do not see your name please email Brandon@philsteele.com. Here are the current leaderboards.

THE TOP 50 IN POINTS WON

THE TOP 50 IN WIN %