Ohio State shelled out $6,431,240 (sans bonuses) to head football coach Urban Meyer last season, according to USA Today's coaching salary database.
That was good for fourth in the country, trailing only Alabama's Nick Saban ($11.1 million), Clemson's Dabo Swinney ($8.5 million), and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh $7 million).
The top of that list should look different in 2018 with Saban coming off another title in Tuscaloosa, and Texas A&M opening its checkbook to poach Jimbo Fisher from Florida State with a guaranteed $75 million.
Needless to say, these latest developments don't enthuse Buckeye athletic director Gene Smith, who has never been enamored of skyrocketing coaching salaries in college sports.