Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt checks in just outside the top half of the SEC in terms of coaching salaries.

According to the 2018 update for the USA Today college football head coach salary database, the first-year coach of the Vols ranks eighth in the SEC and 26th nationally with an annual salary of $3.846 million.

When it hired the Alabama defensive coordinator last December, Tennessee inked Pruitt to a six-year deal through the 2023 season with an initial base salary worth $3.8 million, and the other $46,000 factored into the compensation USA Today lists for Pruitt likely stems from his $36,000 annual expense allowance and $10,000 annual compensation for summer football camps listed in the memorandum of understanding between the two parties.

Pruitt was the sixth-highest paid assistant coach in college football in 2017 with a salary of $1.3 million with the Crimson Tide.

Five of the eight highest-paid coaches in college reside in the SEC.

Here are the salaries and national rankings for all 14 SEC head football coaches, according to the USA Today salary database:

1. Nick Saban (Alabama): $8.307 million

4. Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M): $7.5 million

5. Gus Malzahn (Auburn): $6,705,656

6. Kirby Smart (Georgia): $6,603,600

8. Dan Mullen (Florida): $6.07 million

21. Will Muschamp (South Carolina): $4.2 million

23. Mark Stoops (Kentucky): $4 million

26. Jeremy Pruitt (Tennessee): $3.846 million

36. Chad Morris (Arkansas): $3.5 million

37. Ed Orgeron (LSU): $3.5 million

44. Matt Luke (Ole Miss): $3 million

46. Derek Mason (Vanderbilt): $2,812,523

49. Joe Moorhead (Mississippi State): $2.6 million

56. Barry Odom (Missouri): $2.35 million

Pruitt is one of six first-year head coaches in the SEC this season, but only he and Luke, who had his interim tag removed by Ole Miss after last season, took their new jobs without any past coaching experience.

Among other first-year coaches across college football, Pruitt is making less than Scott Frost at Nebraska ($5 million) and Willie Taggart at Florida State ($5 million), but more than Morris and Moorhead within the SEC, Chip Kelly at UCLA ($3.3 million), Mario Cristobal at Oregon ($2.5 million), Kevin Sumlin at Arizona ($2 million) and Herm Edwards at Arizona State ($2 million).

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The updated USA Today database also includes buyout figures for coaches as of Dec. 1.

Pruitt would be owed 60 percent of the base salary remaining on his deal if Tennessee were to terminate it without cause prior to the end of the agreement, and the buyout is not mitigated by Pruitt's next job and would be paid in equal monthly installments over the remainder of the term.

The figure of Pruitt's buyout as of Dec. 1 is $11.78 million, is the 27th-highest in the nation, according to the USA Today database.

Pruitt would owe Tennessee a $6 million buyout if he leaves before Dec. 15, 2018, and his buyout drops by $1 million each year through the 2022 season.

His deal also includes incentives for SEC titles, College Football Playoff appearances, bowl games, top-25 finishes in the national polls and Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores with maximum bonus of $1.2 million for a single year.