The conference realignment dominos have been falling since August. Now, another part of the industry is following the same pattern: the football coaching carousel.

In the past few days, two of the Power 5’s most successful programs have lost their head coaches to ailing — though rich — teams. And schools that took them are throwing around more money than ever before. 

Neither Brian Kelly nor Lincoln Riley has won a national championship as a head coach. But they’ll take home some of the biggest paychecks in the country.

• Brian Kelly landed in Baton Rouge yesterday to take the coaching job at LSU — and will make $95 million over 10 years, not including incentives.
• Lincoln Riley is headed to USC. The school hasn’t disclosed terms of the deal — though one rumor pegged it at $110 million.
• Both schools are paying buyouts to departing coaches — LSU is paying Ed Orgeron $16.9 million. USC is paying Clay Helton more than $10 million, according to Yahoo.

Alabama coach Nick Saban, who has won seven national titles, was the highest-paid coach this year ($9.75M not including incentives, via USA Today).

Salaries for Michigan State coach Mel Tucker and now Kelly don’t trail by much. It’s unclear where Riley will rank — though he’ll surely be somewhere in the top five.

The coaching carousel has made one thing clear: When it comes to running a top college football program, there’s always money to go around. 

Schools have found the cash to pay some of the highest salaries in college football history and a litany of other expenses. 

Meanwhile, schools refuse to pay athletes salaries, cut Olympic sports teams due to pandemic shortfalls, and can’t seem to find the cash to treat women’s sports athletes equally. 

That’s struck a nerve with athlete advocates. But is there anything that could reverse this trend?

• Some have suggested that the NCAA cap salaries; but when it tried to do so previously, it was shot down by a court.
• The Knight Commission argued that Division I schools could redirect some of the funds from coaches to “education-centric” goals, like improving gender equity. 
• If the richest schools had to pay players salaries, they might be forced to cut coaching salaries. Lawmakers, the courts, or the NLRB could force them to — but they’re slow-moving.

“Professional-level payouts for college coaches are only possible because colleges and the NCAA illegally collude to directly restrict compensation for the mostly Black athletes,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a statement Tuesday. 

“This is a civil rights issue that will continue to stain the world of college sports if Congress doesn’t act.”