Two College Football Coaches Miss Top 10 Earnings List Despite $10 Million Contracts

These two ACC coaches rank outside the 10 highest-paid college football coaches despite earning over $10 million annually.

Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell gestures against the Florida Gators during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Nearly three and a half months lie between the middle of May and the opening weekend of the 2026 college football season.

The summer months build up a period of anticipation for the upcoming season. For players, the new season brings about an opportunity to add to their bodies of work in their hopeful paths to the NFL. Coaches will not only add to their bodies of work but also attempt to strengthen their current job security.

Wilson Alexander of On3 compiled rankings of the 10 highest-paid coaches in college football heading into the 2026 season on Sunday. The rankings were comprised of five SEC coaches, four Big Ten coaches and Dabo Swinney as the lone ACC representative. The salaries ranged from Dan Lanning at $10.6 million to Curt Cignetti at $13.02 million.

While earning a $10 million salary is a luxury few college football coaches claim, not every coach who earns $10 million annually cracked the updated list of the 10 highest-paid coaches in college football. Alexander reported that two ACC coaches who earn above $10 million a year missed the cut.

Mike Norvell

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell leads practice Thursday, April 9, 2026. | Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The seventh-year head coach at Florida State was the first of the two ACC coaches who did not make Alexander's list. Norvell currently earns $10.3 million, a deal that was agreed upon following the Seminoles' dominant 2023 mark of 13-1 to go along with their first ACC title in almost a decade.

Norvell's seventh season at the helm in Tallahassee will be a pivotal one. The combined 23-4 record between the 2022 and 2023 seasons is not blinding Seminoles fans from the combined 15-30 mark in the two seasons before and after that stretch.

Florida State began 2025 with a stunning victory over Alabama but posted a disappointing 2-6 record in ACC play in the months that followed.

Bill Belichick

UNC football coach Bill Belichick during a press conference ahead of the Tar Heels' first spring practice on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. | Rodd Baxley/The Fayetteville Observer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The six-time Super Bowl champion head coach was the other ACC head man who just missed out on the top 10 salaries across college football. North Carolina will once again pay Bill Belichick $10.1 million as he enters his second season as its head coach.

Like Norvell, Belichick is in need of a strong 2026 season in order to keep hot seat conversations at bay. An incredibly anticlimactic 48-14 loss to TCU on Labor Day night set the tone for what proved to be a disastrous season for North Carolina.

The Tar Heels finished 2025 at 4-8 overall with a 2-6 record in ACC play, both of which were their worst marks since the end of Larry Fedora's tenure in 2018.