UW football coach tops list of Washington’s highest paid state employees

Newly-released numbers show that University of Washington head football coach Kalen Deboer was the highest-paid state employee in 2022, taking in a salary of over $3.3 million.

Deboer unseats UW head basketball coach Mike Hopkins, who was 2021′s highest state employee at $2.84 million. Hopkins dropped to second in 2022 at $3 million, followed by Washington State University head football coach Jacob Dickert at $2.7 million, and WSU head basketball coach Kyle Smith at $1.5 million.

The highest paid state employee who isn’t a coach was Keith Ferguson, who works as UW’s Chief Investment Officer and made $954,000 in 2022. He’s followed by UW Athletics Director Jennifer Cohen ($935,000), now-retired head baseball coach Lindsey Meggs ($907,000), and Bioengineering Chair Princess Amoukhuede ($904,000).

For state employees not employed at a university or college, Department of Social and Health Services Psychiatrist Gregory Bahder led the pack at $527,000, following by DSHS physician Yajun Liu at $526,000.

Elected leaders were further down the list, with Gov. Jay Inslee bringing in $187,000 in 2022.