The men's NCAA Tournament title game is set. The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Villanova Wildcats and will be going for the fourth NCAA Tournament title in school history. They'll face the North Carolina Tar Heels, who ended Mike Krzyzewski's career after defeating Duke in the Final Four. UNC, which has reached an NCAA record 21 Final Fours, is trying to win its seventh NCAA championship.
Despite their impressive histories, this will be only the 12th time Kansas and North Carolina have faced off, and the seventh time they've played each other in the NCAA Tournament. They first met in 1957, with their most recent matchup occurring in 2013.
Kansas is led by Bill Self, who's served as head coach of the Jayhawks since 2003. Hubert Davis leads North Carolina, who has brought the Tar Heels to the title game in his first season as head coach. How much does each coach make in salary?
UNC and Kansas last met in the NCAA Tournament in 2013. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Self has been at Kansas for nearly two decades, winning a title in 2008. However, it was only recently that he became one of the NCAA's highest-paid coaches. Self signed a lifetime deal in 2021, which raised his annual salary to $5.4 million. After five seasons, Self will earn an extra $2.5 million for every additional season he's employed.
Beyond his annual salary, Self can also earn up to $775,000 in incentives every year. He's already achieved several of those incentives this season, including winning the Big 12 regular season and conference tournament, making the NCAA Tournament, and reaching both the Sweet Sixteen and Final Four. If Kansas wins the title, Self will earn another $200,000. Self will also score an extra $100,000 any year he wins national Coach of the Year.
Meanwhile, Davis just signed his first contract with North Carolina this past offseason, which is worth $10 million over five seasons. Davis made $1.8 million in base salary during the 2021-22 season and can earn up to $1.1 million in annual bonuses. Davis will score extra money thanks to reaching the NCAA Tournament and advancing to additional rounds.
Other bonuses include winning the ACC regular-season or conference tournament, national or ACC Coach of the Year, and having a team academic progress rate of 975 or higher.
In base salary alone, Self makes three times as much as Davis. Factor in bonuses and the difference becomes a bit smaller, though Self is still comfortably making about two-and-a-half times as much as Davis.
However, Davis isn't concerned about the financial gap between the two coaches. For now, he's only got one goal: to try and win a national championship. With any luck, it could be the first of many for the first-year coach.
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