Horizon League Women’s Basketball Coach Salaries
Head coach pay at the 12 Horizon League women’s basketball programs for 2026–27. Northern Illinois joined the league from the MAC on July 1, 2026. Only two figures come from news reports; the rest are unconfirmed, and two programs have new head coaches whose pay has not been reported. Each figure is labeled with how well it is confirmed. Men’s programs: Horizon League men’s basketball coach salaries.
Key numbers
- Median head coach pay: about $190,000 across the eight programs with a figure. Figures run from about $175,000 to $240,000.
- Green Bay’s Kayla Karius is the highest paid at a reported $240,000, under an extension through 2034–35 (WFRV, April 2026). An earlier report put her pay at a $215,000 base plus $50,000 from the school’s foundation, so it is unclear whether the $240,000 includes foundation money.
- Two programs hired head coaches in April 2026: Purdue Fort Wayne (Kate Peterson Abiad, after Maria Marchesano stepped down and moved to Butler) and Cleveland State (Bob Dunn). We found no pay for either.
- Youngstown State’s Melissa Jackson signed an extension in March 2026 through 2030–31. Her original 2024 deal paid a $183,000 base; the new pay was not reported, and a records request for it had not been answered.
Head coach pay by school
| School | Head coach | Pay | Basis | Source | Contract / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Bay | Kayla Karius | $240,000 | Reported, April 2026 | News report | Extension through March 31, 2035. The prior deal was reported as a $215,000 base plus $50,000 from the foundation; unclear whether the new figure includes foundation pay |
| Milwaukee | Kyle Rechlicz | $195,500 | Unconfirmed, 2025–26 | Unconfirmed | Head coach since 2012. We found no change announced for 2026–27 |
| Wright State | Kari Hoffman | $195,000 | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Three-year extension through 2027–28 reported by the Dayton Daily News; pay not reported |
| Northern Kentucky | Jeff Hans | $190,000 | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Hired April 2024 from Division II Thomas More |
| Oakland | Keisha Newell | $190,000 | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Hired March 2025. Picked fourth in the 2026–27 preseason poll |
| Youngstown State | Melissa Jackson | $183,000 | Base, 2024 hire terms | News report | Extension through 2030–31 signed March 2026; new pay not reported |
| IU Indianapolis | Kate Bruce | $175,000 | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Hired May 2022. A school announcement reported an extension through 2027; terms not reported |
| Northern Illinois | Jacey Brooks | About $175,000 | Posted pay rate for the job | Posting range | Hired April 2025 from Buffalo. The figure is the pay rate in the school’s job posting ($7,291.67 twice a month), not her contract. First season in the Horizon League |
| Cleveland State | Bob Dunn | Not disclosed | — | — | Named head coach in April 2026 after years as an assistant |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Kate Peterson Abiad | Not disclosed | — | — | Named April 10, 2026; coached Cleveland State from 2003 to 2018 |
| Robert Morris (private) | Chandler McCabe | Not disclosed | — | — | Hired March 2024. Private school does not publish pay |
| Detroit Mercy (private) | Kiefer Haffey | Not disclosed | — | — | Promoted from associate head coach in April 2025. Private school does not publish pay |
Sorted by pay. Source: “News report” means a news outlet reported the figure; “Posting range” is the pay in a job posting, not a person’s contract; “Unconfirmed” means we found no document or report behind it, and the figure comes from a compiled conference file. Unconfirmed figures are 2025–26 amounts.
Women’s vs. men’s pay at the same school
| School | Men’s | Women’s | Men’s Ă· Women’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Kentucky | $574,000 | $190,000 | 3.0 |
| Milwaukee | $430,000 | $195,500 | 2.2 |
| Northern Illinois | $330,000 | $175,000 | 1.9 |
| Wright State | $357,200 | $195,000 | 1.8 |
| Youngstown State | $280,500 | $183,000 | 1.5 |
| IU Indianapolis | $265,000 | $175,000 | 1.5 |
| Green Bay | $250,000 | $240,000 | 1.0 |
Several rows compare a documented figure with an unconfirmed one, so the ratios are approximate. Only schools where both figures are available are shown.
What the numbers show
- Green Bay is the one school where the women’s and men’s figures are close. Karius’s reported $240,000 is about 96% of the figure on file for men’s coach Doug Gottlieb ($250,000, unconfirmed), and may include foundation money.
- Northern Kentucky has the widest gap. Its men’s coach is paid about three times its women’s coach, a ratio the NKU student newspaper also noted in 2023.
- Women’s pay is tightly grouped. Seven of the eight figures sit between $175,000 and $195,500.
- Federal data shows a different top of the league. Averaged across all women’s teams, Green Bay ($113,397), Oakland ($111,523) and Northern Illinois ($107,712) pay head coaches the most; Northern Kentucky ($66,365) pays the least.
Assistant coach pay
We did not find a payroll record, contract or news report for any Horizon League women’s assistant coach. A compiled file lists assistants at roughly $60,000 to $84,000, but we could not confirm any of it, so no assistant figures are published here.
School-wide averages (federal data)
Every college that offers athletics reports average coach pay to the U.S. Department of Education. These are averages per full-time coach across all women’s teams at each school (2024–25 reporting year), not basketball only and not individual salaries.
| School | Average head coach, women’s teams | Average assistant coach, women’s teams |
|---|---|---|
| Green Bay | $113,397 | $56,527 |
| Oakland | $111,523 | $73,052 |
| Northern Illinois | $107,712 | $53,846 |
| Robert Morris (private) | $100,225 | $54,364 |
| Cleveland State | $98,046 | $41,846 |
| Milwaukee | $92,816 | $42,496 |
| Detroit Mercy (private) | $90,077 | $44,022 |
| Wright State | $87,443 | $59,100 |
| Youngstown State | $86,489 | $42,191 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | $84,496 | $69,309 |
| IU Indianapolis | $78,209 | $43,295 |
| Northern Kentucky | $66,365 | $36,392 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act data, 2024–25 (ope.ed.gov/athletics).
Data notes
- Ten of the 12 member schools are public, so contracts are public records, but most are not posted online and the state payroll databases could not be searched for this report. Robert Morris and Detroit Mercy are private and do not publish pay.
- Most figures here are unconfirmed amounts from a compiled conference file. Where a news report contradicted that file, we used the report. The file listed Purdue Fort Wayne’s previous coach, Marchesano, who has since left for Butler, so her row was dropped.
- We confirmed 2026–27 coaches from school rosters and news releases where we could. We found no change announced at Milwaukee, Northern Kentucky, Wright State, Oakland, IU Indianapolis, Robert Morris, Detroit Mercy, Green Bay or Youngstown State.
Photo: Milwaukee women’s basketball, 2022 (vs. Wisconsin). Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped.
Related
- Horizon League men’s basketball coach salaries
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- OVC men’s · OVC women’s
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- MIAA (Division III) men’s · MIAA (Division III) women’s
- WIAC (Division III) men’s · WIAC (Division III) women’s
- College basketball coach salaries by conference
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