“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” the Founding Father of the United States Benjamin Franklin had spoken of taxes. While we wouldn’t want to touch upon death in this article, we here have a live example of taxes. Both South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley and the UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma make the same amount of money. But what differs is their tax, which makes a lot of difference to their incomes.

On face value, one would feel Auriemma to be a more deserving coach. But despite being an 11X NCAA winning coach, he makes less than his rival, Staley. While this triggers the Huskies fans since both UConn and South Carolina have been top programs for the past decade, it soothes the Gamecocks fans as they get another edge over the Huskies after dominating them in recent years.

Dawn Staley’s taxes and take-home salary

According to a list released by 247 Sports, Staley and Auriemma are among the top five highest-earning women’s basketball college coaches. Both are positioned second to Kim Mulkey, earning $3.1 million. However, since A’ja Wilson’s former mentor resides in Carolina, she has to pay a lower tax than Auriemma.

According to the pin code for Columbia, 29208, Staley pays a 6.5% marginal tax rate and a 6.45% effective tax rate. Therefore, in 2023, she paid approximately $199,916 as state tax. While she did pay the federal tax of $1,102,208 and FICA of $80,982, her total taxes could be $1,383,106, according to Smart Asset.

This is calculated considering retirement contributions are nil. With that, the take-home salary is $1,716,894. Though this might look like a lot of tax, it is still less than what Auriemma makes. As mentioned, this might disappoint the Huskies loyalists since he is the winningest active coach in women’s basketball.

Geno Auriemma’s taxes and take-home salary

As mentioned Auriemma makes the same $3.1 million. And according to the pin code 06040 for Manchester, Connecticut, he would have paid a marginal tax of 6.99% and an effective tax of 6.88%. Thus he would have paid $213,290 in 2023 as state tax which is more than that of Staley.

Since the incomes are the same, the 70-year-old would have paid the same federal and FICA taxes of $1,102,208 and $80,982, respectively. However, according to Smart Asset again, Auriemma’s total income tax is $1,396,480. Considering nil retirement contributions, Auriemma would be making $1,703,520 as a take-home salary.

This might also result from the general assembly reducing the income tax in phases in South Carolina. If this is the case, it will continue to decrease over four years. Even though Staley has won just 3 NCAA D1 tournaments and is not even in the top 25 in the women’s college basketball most-winningest coaches list, perhaps balling fans will consider her lucky, firstly for earning as much as Auriemma and then being a resident of Columbia and giving lesser state tax.