NJ college basketball coach salaries, stacked up

Fresh off the Peacocks’ historic NCAA March Madness run, Saint Peter’s University has been dealing with rumors that its head men’s basketball coach might soon fly the coop.

The newly open Seton Hall University coaching position seems strongly attractive to Shaheen Holloway, who as a player led Seton Hall to the state’s last Sweet 16 appearance two decades ago, and also did a stint as an assisting coach there before his current post.

Perhaps the hardest to beat would be the apparent steep pay raise.

Even within the state, the coaching salary to lead St. Peter’s men’s basketball team has been on the lower end, based on reports.

New Jersey is home to eight colleges or universities with NCAA Division I athletic teams (Rutgers, Seton Hall, Princeton, Fairleigh Dickinson, NJIT, Rider, Monmouth, Saint Peter’s).

Here’s how those men’s basketball coach paychecks match up, based on the most recent data and reports.

St. Peter’s

Saint Peter’s men’s basketball coach Shaheen Holloway was paid just over $266,000 in the 2019 year, according to USA Today’s annual sports salary survey and ABC News.

That included salary and bonuses.

It became a viral stat when stacked next to the salary of the first team toppled in this year’s tournament, the University of Kentucky.

That head coach (John Calipari) has a base salary of $8.5 million — which is over $1 million more than the entire sports budget for Saint Peter’s University in 2020 ($7.2 million).

Rutgers University

Rutgers University men’s basketball coach Steve Pikiell earned $2.6 million this season, as reported by the Asbury Park Press.

Under a four-year, $16 million contract extension, his salary increases to $3.75 million in 2025-26, the same report said.

Even with the new deal in place, USA Today this month ranked Pikiell among its top five underpaid men’s basketball coaches, citing “either their recent runs of success or impressive track records,” as based on USA Today’s annual survey.

Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University paid head men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard just under $2.5 million a year, as reported by NJ.com.

He has since signed on with Maryland, for the same post with a bigger paycheck.

Under his new contract, Willard will make $3.9 million next season “with a $100,000 escalator each year,” as reported by the Baltimore Sun.

Monmouth University

Monmouth University — which was defeated by Saint Peter’s to kick off this year’s historic March Madness run — paid its men’s basketball coach more than twice as much in recent years.

According to the Asbury Park Press, before signing a contract extension last year, King Rice received $575,000 total compensation for the 2019-20 season.

Rider University

Rider University paid its men’s head basketball coach Kevin Baggett roughly $381,000 in salary and additional benefits in 2019, as reported by The Rider News.

That made him the second-highest-paid employee at the university, according to the same report.

Princeton

Princeton University is reportedly on the low end of coach salaries among Division 1 schools, though the salary of Mitch Henderson has remained shrouded in mystery..

Henderson is the third-winningest coach in program history, as he just completed season 10 as the head coach of Princeton men’s basketball in 2021-22.

The head coaches of men’s teams at the Ivy League university make a rough average of $161,500.

However, Henderson’s salary has not been publicly available.

He was one of five NCAA Tournament coaches whose pay was not listed in 2017, according to USA Today and Asbury Park Press.

Fairleigh Dickinson

Fairleigh Dickinson University signed its men’s basketball coach Greg Herenda to a multi-year contract extension in 2019, which runs through the 2023-24 basketball season.

As of that year, Herenda was paid roughly $257,000, between base salary and other compensation, as reported by Asbury Park Press.

NJIT

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) paid men’s basketball coach Brian Kennedy $235,000 in 2019, according to public records as cited online.

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