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The Highest-Paid Coaches In Sports

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In 11 seasons on the New England Patriots' sideline, Bill Belichick has won 72% of his games, made eight postseason appearances and taken three Super Bowl titles.

Little surprise, then, that Belichick now takes home more money than any coach in the four major North American sports leagues--some $7.5 million a year, we estimate. The Patriots have never publicly confirmed Belichick's contract details, but industry pundits have little doubt that the long-term extension he signed in 2007 is north of the roughly $7 million annually that Mike Holmgren was getting from the Seattle Seahawks.

Two current NFL coaches, Washington's Mike Shanahan and Seattle's Pete Carroll, are pulling in $7 million a season, while Chicago's Lovie Smith just re-upped for $6 million a year after leading his team to the NFC Championship Game. The chances that any of these teams would have offered more than what Belichick is getting? Slim to none.

In Pictures: The Highest-Paid Coaches In Sports

Recent years have brought departures of several veteran big-money coaches and managers, including Holmgren, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, Jeff Fisher, Joe Torre, Larry Brown and Don Nelson. And of course, Phil Jackson, the 11-time champion and lone eight-figure earner in the coaching fraternity, joins the list of ex-coaches this year.

Chalk up 2011 as a good year for New England coaches. Jackson's retirement from the Lakers puts Belichick in the overall top spot, and passes the NBA crown to Glenn "Doc" Rivers, who just signed a five-year, $35 million extension with the Boston Celtics. With a bump from the estimated $5.5 million he made last season, Rivers jumps past two NBA coaches earning $6 million a year: Gregg Popovich of San Antonio (four titles; .676 winning percentage in 14 seasons) and Mike D'Antoni of New York, who figures to be under the gun in 2011-12, his first full year with stars Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony at his disposal.

The most obvious reason that the highest-paid coaches in the business hail from the NFL or NBA: price competition from the college ranks. Industry observers point to the big money laid out in the late 1990s to Rick Pitino (University of Kentucky to the Boston Celtics) and John Calipari (University of Massachusetts to the New Jersey Nets) as the catalysts driving NBA coaching salaries to a new level.

Torre, baseball's highest-paid manager for a number of years with the Yankees and Dodgers at over $4 million annually, left this year for a job in the MLB Commissioner's office. That leaves L.A.'s other manager, Mike Scioscia of the Angels, as the baseball guy closest to the top 10. Angels owner Arte Moreno inked Scoiscia to an almost unheard of 10-year, $50 million extension before the 2009 season. According to Fox Sports, the contract escalates a bit in the later years, leaving Scioscia's current salary below $5 million.

In Pictures: The Highest-Paid Coaches In Sports