EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – As they have for the last few seasons, UTEP head coach Dana Dimel and New Mexico State head coach Doug Martin rank near the bottom when it comes to college football coaching salaries.

On Thursday, USA Today released its annual list of the salaries for almost every head coach of an FBS program. Of the 130 FBS football teams, 122 provided the publication with salary information for its head football coaches.

To the surprise of no one, Alabama’s Nick Saban ranked first, raking in $9.8 million annually, while LSU’s Ed Orgeron was second at $9 million per season.

From there, you have to scroll way down the list to find the Borderland’s two head coaches. Dimel’s annual salary of $748,966 ranks him 105th out of the 122 coaches listed by USA Today. As KTSM has reported, Dimel took a COVID-19 pandemic pay cut of $41,533 in 2020. Dimel is in the fourth year of a five-year deal at UTEP and his buyout is $830,666.

In addition to being ranked 105th nationally, Dimel is also the lowest-paid coach among all Conference USA head coaches. North Texas’ Seth Littrell is the highest paid coach in C-USA at $1.9 million/year, ranking him 69th in FBS football.

UTEP is currently 5-1 in 2021, matching its total amount of wins from the last four seasons combined. The Miners will host Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Sun Bowl, with a chance to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2014.

If Dimel can indeed get the Miners to a bowl game, it would appear likely that UTEP Director of Athletics Jim Senter would be obligated and interested in extending Dimel’s contract.

As for Martin, the Aggies’ head man makes $437,000 per season, which ranks him 121st in the nation, second-to-last in FBS football of the teams that submitted data to USA Today. Martin is ahead of only UL Monroe’s Terry Bowden ($430K) on the list.

Martin is in the final year of a contract extension he signed in 2017 after the Aggies’ Arizona Bowl win over Utah State. A clause in that extension states that if Martin were to win six or more games in any season, his contract automatically extends for another year.

However, at 1-6 and with a pair of SEC opponents on the horizon, six wins now appears unlikely for the Aggies in 2021. It’s entirely possible that this could be Martin’s last year in Las Cruces.

New Mexico State is on a bye this week, before travelling to play at Hawaii on Oct. 23.