LSU is set to make Jay Johnson the highest-paid college baseball coach in the country after the Tigers won the 2025 national championship, his second in three years.
Johnson’s new contract will pay him more than $3 million annually and runs through the 2032 season, according to a copy of the deal included Thursday in the meeting agenda for LSU’s board of supervisors.
Johnson will make $3.05 million over the next year. His compensation increases annually until it reaches $3.65 million in the final year of the contract.
After Johnson signed the agreement in mid-August, the deal is expected to be approved Friday morning by LSU’s board. In total, he is set to make $23.45 million before bonuses over the next seven years.
Two LSU assistants, recruiting coordinator Josh Jordan and director of baseball operations Josh Simpson, also received new contracts.
Since arriving in Baton Rouge, Johnson has restored LSU’s status as a baseball powerhouse. He led the Tigers to their first national championship in 14 years during his second season in 2023, then won the title again this year by going undefeated at the College World Series, including a two-game sweep of Coastal Carolina in the finals.
Johnson took LSU to the NCAA regional the two seasons he did not win a national title. He has a 190-77 record in four years.
When Johnson was hired at LSU after six seasons as the head coach at Arizona, his original contract owed him an average of $1.3 million over five years.
Johnson received a new deal after he won his first national championship. He earned $1.67 million before bonuses last season, which made him the fourth-highest paid coach in the SEC, according to The Tennessean. His compensation was set to increase annually until it reached $2 million in 2030.
The new deal will push Johnson’s pay ahead of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello, who was the highest-paid coach in the country last season. After the Volunteers won their first national title in 2024, Vitello signed a new contract that made him the first college baseball coach known to make $3 million. His deal included a $250,000 signing bonus and runs through 2029.
Jordan was linked to the head coach opening at Duke this summer, according to multiple reports. He will now make an average of $485,000 over the next three years. His previous deal, which ended this summer, paid him an average of $310,000 per year.
Simpson received a raise and a one-year extension on top of his original deal, keeping him under contract through the 2028 season. He will now make $250,000 over the next year, up from $200,000 under the previous agreement.
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