Nebraska Basketball: Fred Hoiberg named amongst most overpaid coaches

Now that the Nebraska basketball season appears to be over, it’s time to look at a number of metrics, including the bang for the bucks Fred Hoiberg gets.

Hoiberg gets quite a few bucks to lead a Nebraska basketball team that hasn’t posted a winning record under the former Iowa State legend. That’s one of the reasons why he was recently named among the most underpaid college basketball coaches in the country. And when you look at the company he’s keeping, it’s not a group anyone would really like to be a part of for any length of time.

USA Today‘s Paul Myerberg put together the top five most overpaid coaches in basketball and unfortunately, Hoiberg was high on that list, though luckily the Nebraska basketball head man wasn’t right at the top.

The top spot belonged to Kentucky’s John Calipari. Clearly the fact that the Wildcats’ coach is the highest paid in the sport is a big reason why he’s so high, considering UK tends to get a postseason berth at the very least under his leadership. Calipari pulls down $8.5 million a year. While his 21-10 Wildcats will likely make the NCAA Tournament, they haven’t exactly looked like world beaters this season.

Nebraska basketball is joined by another Big Ten coach on this list in Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann. Holtman makes $3.5 million in total compensation a year and has a university buyout of $16.8 million. While he had quite a bit of success early in his career, he’s never really been able to take the Buckeyes deep into the tourney and this year they finished the regular season 13-18. That record included a 63-60 loss to Nebraska basketball; his team was 13th in the Big Ten. Of course, his squad has also won their first two games in the Big Ten tournament and knocked off Iowa on Thursday.

Washington’s Mike Hopkins also makes the list and like Holtmann he had a great start to his Huskies coaching career but has struggled of late. This past year UW went just 16-16 and looks to be off the NCAA Tournament bubble. Hopkins makes $3 million a year to sit at home in late March.

Wayne Tinkle at Oregon State, like most of the others on this list has at least had some success at times. He took the Beavers to an improbable run to the Elite Eight in 2021. He followed that up with a 3-28 season last year and 11-21 this year. Earning $2.7 million a year and boasting a buyout over $11 million, he’s easily the most overpaid.

And then there’s Nebraska basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg. Who happens to be the only member of the group to never post a winning record as Huskers head man but still haul down $3.25 million a year. It’s hard to argue that he’s not among the most overpaid coaches in the sport and we’ll have to hope that improvement seen this past season, continues next winter.