Survery: Coach's Salary Shouldn't Best President's

Basketball coaches are rallying their teams ahead of the tipoff to March Madness, and over the next month they'll be plastered across television screens – pacing on court sidelines, sweating through crisp dress shirts, yelling at referees and huddling with their players.

The luckiest among them will cut down the nets when the Big Dance is all said and done.

For this, they are rewarded handsomely: The average salary for men's college basketball coaches in the NCAA Tournament last year was $1.7 million, not including bonuses, according to an analysis by USA Today – an amount that often trumps that of their school's college presidents.

But in the midst of rising college costs and mounting student loan debt, a majority of people think that should not be the case.

In fact, 63 percent of respondents from a new survey conducted by Finn Partners, a communications firm, feel that coaches should not make more than college and university presidents. Of those who voice opposition, more than 1 in 3, or 38 percent, strongly hold this view, saying they are "definitely" against higher salaries for coaches.

Notably, younger respondents, especially those 18-29 years old, were less opposed to the pay gap between coaches and college presidents. Overall, nearly 40 percent of respondents aged 18-44 were more likely to say coaches should make more than college and university presidents compared to 17 percent of those 45 and above.

"While younger Americans are disproportionately likely to say that college and university coaches should make more than presidents, the vast majority of respondents say this practice is not appropriate," said Margaret Dunning, managing partner at Finn Partners. "These findings suggest that Americans still consider academics a priority over athletics on college campuses."

The survey is part of an ongoing initiative by the company to assess attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in education. It was conducted online in November 2015 among a sample of 1,000 adults nationwide.

In general, men's coaches for all varsity athletic programs​​ earn an average of more than $800,000, according to data from the Department of Education.

Coaches who were among the five highest-paid employees at their university in 2014 earned an average of $554,996 more than the university's chief executive, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's most recent survey on executive compensation at public universities.

Also from the Chronicle's survey: College presidents make up less than 10 percent of those making more than $1 million. Of the 154 public-college employees who make that amount, 70 percent were coaches and 20 percent were doctors.

The highest paid basketball coaches last year were Duke University's Mike Krzyzewski and the University of Kentucky's John Calipari, both of whom earned whopping salaries of $6 million from their schools,​​ according to the USA Today analysis – a handsome sum, but by no means the riches that football coaches rake in.

Jim Harbaugh, the head football coach for the University of Michigan, and Nick Saban, the head coach for the University of Alabama, were paid $7 million last year,​​ according to the same analysis of the highest paid college football coaches.

That college and university coaches are often paid more than presidents is not a new phenomenon. In fact, coaches are often the highest-paid public employee in the entire state.