USC’s second-highest paid coach for the 2015 football season hadn’t coached the team in more than a year. Its highest-paid coach didn’t make it past October.
In the 2015-16 fiscal year, Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian were again among USC’s best-compensated employees, according to the school’s federal tax return, which was released Monday.
USC paid Kiffin about $2.5 million in salary and other benefits, effectively subsidizing Kiffin’s job as the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Sarkisian, who was fired in Oct. 2015 after alcohol-related incidents was paid $3.3 million, a figure that appears to be pro-rated.