It would be pretty sweet to be University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer.

On Monday, Florida gave Meyer, who has won two BCS Championships in the past three years, a raise and a new six-year contract. He now receives $4 million annually, making him the highest-paid coach in the Southeastern Conference.

It made me wonder … who are the highest-paid coaches in 2009? And where do Big 12 coaches rank?

Going into the season, here are the top 4 in the country, organized by what they make per year:

• 1. Pete Carroll, USC: $4.4 million
• 2. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame: $4.2 million
• 3. Urban Meyer, Florida: $4 million
• 4. Nick Saban, Alabama: $3.9 million

Here are the Big 12 coaches, sorted by their national ranking:

• 5. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma: $3.675 million
• 9. Mack Brown, Texas: $2.91 million
• T12. Gary Pinkel, Missouri: $2.5 million
• T16. Mark Mangino, Kansas: $2.3 million
• 25. Bo Pelini, Nebraska: $1.851 million
• T28. Mike Sherman, Texas A&M: $1.8 million
• T28. Art Briles, Baylor: $1.8 million
• T32. Mike Leach, Texas Tech: $1.75 million
• T53. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State: $1.15 million
• T55. Dan Hawkins, Colorado: $1.1 million
• T55. Bill Snyder, Kansas State: $1.1 million
• 64. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: $1.05 million

Thoughts? Few of my observations:

I knew Mangino was paid nicely, but I didn’t realize it was 16th in the nation. He’ll be making $2.3 million each year through 2012. Well worth it.

Pinkel is pretty high up on the list, but for what he’s done for the program, it’s deserved.

I got to thinking how the major conferences stacked up against each other. I took each coach’s national ranking and averaged them out across the conferences. The results:

SEC: 22.1
Big 12: 31.8
ACC: 35.5
Big Ten: 40.1
Big East: 43.1
Pac-10: 45.8

The SEC has the third-, fourth-, sixth-, 10th-, 11th- and 12th-highest paid coaches in the land. Not bad.

The salary list I looked at had Meyer’s updated deal, which was announced Monday, but didn’t have updated figures on Leach and Gundy for some reason.

At any rate, Leach is scheduled to make $2.65 million in 2009, while Gundy recently signed a deal that pays him $1.8 million per year.

No coach in the SEC, Big 12 or ACC is paid under $1 million per year. The other three major conferences have coaching salaries below that figure.

The Pac-10 may have Carroll, the highest-paid coach in the country, but it also has Nos. 65, 66 and 85, making it the lowest-paid coaching conference on average.

The lowest-paid coach of the six major conferences? Paul Wulff of Washington State. He makes $600,000 per year. Yeah, I’d settle for that. Washington State went 2-11 last year in Wulff’s first season in Pullman, Wash.

I just finished Friday Night Lights, the TV show, and am looking for a new series to get hooked on. I’m thinking maybe The Wire. Any other suggestions?

Also, only 31 days until Kansas faces Northern Colorado in Lawrence. Not that you’re counting. Happy One Month to all.

As always, discuss.