Despite coming off a disappointing 12-win season, Oregon Ducks head coach Dana Altman has one of the more impressive resumes in men’s college basketball. Prior to the 2025-26 campaign, he’d led the Ducks to 20 or more wins in each of his 15 seasons at the helm, a remarkable streak that continued in the PAC-10, PAC-12 and Big Ten.
Oregon reached the NCAA Tournament nine times during that span, highlighted by a Final Four run in 2016. Altman’s resume speaks for itself, as he’s 15th all-time in coaching wins and fifth among active coaches with 792 victories across 37 seasons.
Fifth in active wins — yet Altman is just 29th in per-year salary among men’s basketball coaches around the country. His salary is $4 million, ranking just behind Clemson’s Brad Brownell, according to USA Today.
There are several expected names at the top, with Kansas’ Bill Self on top with a salary just north of $8.8 million. UConn’s Dan Hurley is just behind at $8.025 million, while Arkansas’ John Calipari and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo each topping $7 million. Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes closes out the top five with a salary of $6.2 million.
In terms of the Big Ten, Altman barely sneaks into the top ten.
His $4 million salary falls behind Izzo, Illinois’ Brad Underwood ($5.4 million), Purdue’s Matt Painter ($4.9 million), Maryland’s Buzz Williams ($4.8 million), UCLA’s Mick Cronin ($4.5 million), Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg ($4.3 million), Indiana’s Darian DeVries ($4.3 million), Penn State’s Mike Rhoades ($4.2 million) and Rutgers’ Steve Pikiell ($4.05 million).
There are several surprises on that list that fall above Altman, with Penn State and Rutgers both not necessarily being known for their college hoops. While the Ducks men’s basketball program is sometimes overshadowed by the football program, the Scarlet Knights have been mediocre at best in football. The Nittany Lions are a national brand in football — but nothing close in terms of basketball, especially compared to the Ducks who are just a decade removed from a Final Four appearance.
Speaking of football, Altman’s $4 million salary is well below Oregon football coach Dan Lanning’s salary of $10.4 million, which ranks sixth in all of college football.
Other details regarding Altman’s contract include a maximum bonus of $575,000 and a buyout of $8.2 million. There was chatter from fans during and after Oregon’s disastrous 2025-26 season that Altman may be shown the door. That hasn’t happened to date, with his resume still standing stall alongside that steep price for a buyout in the case of a firing.
All things considered with the season that the Ducks just had and a wave of transfer portal departures, it’s still somewhat surprising to see Altman fall so low in terms of salary compared to his Big Ten foes.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Where Oregon Ducks’ Dana Altman ranks among highest-paid MBB coaches
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