Ohio State extends Urban Meyer with highest salary in the Big Ten: report

Ohio State will sign Urban Meyer to a two-year contract extension that will make him the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten, reports ESPN. The deal would keep Meyer under contract through 2022 and pay him a $7.6 million salary for 2018.

No coach in the Big Ten is paid that much, and only Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney make more nationwide. It’s a sizable raise for Meyer from the $6.4 million he earned in 2017.

Meyer, 53, has led the Buckeyes to a 73-8 record overall and 47-3 record in Big Ten play since arriving in 2012. He led the team to a national championship in 2014 and has not lost more than two games in any of his six seasons in Columbus. Five out of six times, Ohio State has finished in the top six in the final AP Poll.

Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh had been the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten last year with an annual salary of $7 million, according to USA Today. Meyer was next, followed by Penn State’s James Franklin ($4.6 million), Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz ($4.55 million) and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio ($4.38 million).

Northwestern paid head coach Pat Fitzgerald an annual salary of $3.31 million, which was eighth in the conference. Illinois’ Lovie Smith was 10th at $3 million. The lowest paid Big Ten coach in 2017 was Indiana’s Tom Allen, who made $1.83 million.