College basketball players aren’t getting paid, but their coaches are

USA Today released its annual list of NCAA basketball coaches' pay Wednesday, and it includes three coaches making more than $7 million a year, 14 receiving $3 million or more, 47 making at least $2 million and 66 collecting more than $1 million every 12 months.

Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who has led the Blue Devils to five national titles since 1980, is the top earner, making $8.98 million a year. Kentucky's John Calipari, who has taken the Wildcats to four Final Fours with one national title since 2009, gets $7.99 million a year. Ohio State's Chris Holtmann, who is in his first season with the Buckeyes, gets an annual total of $7.15 million.

The top 10 is rounded out by Kansas' Bill Self ($4.95 million), Michigan State's Tom Izzo ($4.4 million), Arizona's Sean Miller ($4.05 million), West Virginia's Bob Huggins ($3.76 million), Utah's Larry Krystkowiak ($3.39 million), Michigan's John Beilein ($3.37 million) and Indiana's Archie Miller ($3.2 million).

UCLA's Steve Alford comes in at No. 23 with $2.6 million. USC's Andy Enfield is one of nine coaches whose annual pay was not reported. In 2013, Enfield signed a six-year deal, worth more than $1 million a year. Last April he signed his second contract extension with the Trojans; terms were not disclosed.

College athletics is seemingly crumbling before our eyes, which for me, is extremely disheartening due to the fact that I gravitate more towards college sports over pro sports (I am a HUGE college football fan). The sheer volume of money thrown around for TV contracts and coach's salaries is beginning to reach absurd levels. Meanwhile, the players who participate in these sports are not allowed to earn a single dime without sacrificing their amateur status with the NCAA.

I understand that paying college athletes a salary really isn't an option due to the fact that a lot of smaller school's athletic budgets are minuscule and the profits they gain from college athletics is marginal at best. But can we, at the very least, allow some of these athletes to earn a couple of dollars while in school? I know there isn't a blanket fix for all of this, but the fact that a guy like a Saquon Barkely couldn't sit in front of his dorm for an hour or two to sign his name on someone's t-shirt with a sharpie for a couple of dollars is silly to me.