OU, OSU coaches make top state salaries, including those fired

It pays to be a coach at one of Oklahoma's two largest universities. In some cases, it pays to be a former coach at either the University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State University.

College sports coaches dominate the state's highest 20 salaries, far outnumbering university health science professionals and administrative leadership. But several people on top of that list still receiving paychecks don't work for university athletics programs anymore, 2025 Oklahoma payroll data aggregated by Open the Books, a non-partisan organization, shows.