MSU's top 10 highest-paid employees View Comments EAST LANSING — Michigan State University's football coach earns more than the school's top 10 highest-paid employees outside the athletics department — combined. Those 10 staffers, MSU's best compensated excluding athletics staff, combine to earn about $4.9 million annually. President Samuel Stanley Jr. earns $720,000 each year, making him the highest-paid non-athletics employee at MSU. He earns just less than University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel's $810,000 annual salary. MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo earned about $3.9 million last year after a COVID-19 pandemic reduction of $362,560 for the year, according to a USA Today salary database. He is expected to earn a one-time retention bonus of $4 million next year.