The highest paid state employee in Alabama is Nick Saban, the head football coach at the University of Alabama. He makes $11.7 million per year.

The highest paid state employee in Georgia is Kirby Smart, the head football coach at the University of Georgia. He makes $11.25 million per year.

The highest paid state employee in South Carolina is Dabo Sweeney, the head football coach at (no, not the University of South Carolina) Clemson University. He makes $10.5 million per year. And on and on.

This is where your tax money is going, America: 40 of the 50 top-earning state employees are college coaches! (Some of the outliers: New York, CEO of SUNY Upstate Medical University, $919K. South Dakota, Clinical Assistant Professor at University of South Dakota, $728K. Alaska, Forensic Psychiatrist(!), $415K.)

No, University of Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch, a Jew from that hotspot of Livingston, New Jersey, is not the highest paid state employee in Arizona. He "only" gets paid $2.6 million for coaching a team that is middling at best. The highest paid state employee in Arizona...

The University of Arizona basketball coach.