Kentucky assistants make more than many head coaches

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When you rake in five-star recruits with the consistency Kentucky does for its basketball-crazed fanbase, everyone is bound to reap the benefits. 

Not only is John Calipari the highest-paid coach in the country with a $7 million salary, but now his assistants are cashing fat checks totaling $1.44 million, according to The Courier-Journal.

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Kenny Payne, Calipari’s top assistant, recently signed a three-year deal worth $2.1 million. His average salary for the next three years, $700,000, tops that of at least 22 head coaches from last year’s NCAA Tournament, according to USA Today. (BYU, Butler, Harvard and Hampton didn’t reveal the salary of their coaches, so Payne could rank even higher in earnings.)

John Robic and Tony Barbee, Calipari’s two other assistants, will make $415,000 and $375,000 next season, respectively.

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