FBS AD Salaries Up Over 14% Since 11; Nine Making $1M Or More

FBS ADs "make an average salary of roughly $515,000, up more than 14%" since October '11, according to a sports-section cover story by Brady, Upton & Berkowitz of USA TODAY. This comes at a time when "academic spending at many schools is declining or not increasing at the same pace as athletics spending." Former Memphis AD R.C. Johnson said that ADs "earn every penny." He "defines the job's degree of difficulty with admirable concision." Johnson said, "Sell more tickets. Raise more money. Win more games. Graduate everybody. And don't cheat." Brady, Upton & Berkowitz write he "could have added: Build more buildings and don't [get] caught without a seat in the musical chairs of conference realignment." Louisville AD Tom Jurich said, "I know one thing. The ADs around the country are earning their money." Jurich is among ADs making $1M or more, a number that is "up to nine from six." He is the "highest-paid athletics director at a public school." Jurich's "complex deal," valued at a little more than $1.4M, is "nearly $180,000 more than the next highest." To determine the total pay packages of FBS ADs for their current contract years, USA Today Sports requested "all forms of compensation" for the ADs at public schools. About 20 of the 124 FBS schools "are private or are public schools covered under state law exempting them from releasing salary data." Any pay the university "guaranteed (even if paid by shoe/apparel company or another source) is listed as 'school pay.'" Anything "not guaranteed by the university is listed as 'other pay'" (USA TODAY, 3/7).

SCHOOL	AD	CONF.	SALARY	OTHER	TOTAL PAY	BONUS
Vanderbilt	David Williams*	SEC	$3,239,678	N/A	$3,239,678	N/A
Louisville	Tom Jurich	Big East	$1,401,915	$10,000	$1,411,915	$346,000
Florida	Jeremy Foley	SEC	$1,233,250	$0	$1,233,250	$50,000
Wisconsin	Barry Alvarez	Big Ten	$1,143,500	$86,500	$1,230,000	$0
Nebraska	Shawn Eichorst	Big Ten	$1,123,000	N/A	$1,123,000	$0
Texas	DeLoss Dodds	Big 12	$1,107,391	$1,650	$1,109,041	$125,000
Ohio State	Gene Smith	Big Ten	$1,099,030	N/A	$1,099,030	$250,000
Notre Dame	Jack Swarbrick	Ind.	$1,026,942	N/A	$1,026,942	N/A
Oklahoma	Joe Castiglione	Big 12	$1,000,000	N/A	$1,000,000	$760,000
Duke	Kevin White	ACC	$906,536	N/A	$906,536	N/A
Arkansas	Jeff Long	SEC	$900,000	$3,900	$903,900	$650,000
Michigan	Dave Brandon	Big Ten	$900,000	$0	$900,000	$200,000
Iowa State	Jamie Pollard	Big 12	$900,000	$0	$900,000	$0
Tennessee	Dave Hart Jr.	SEC	$817,250	N/A	$817,250	$0
Texas A&M	Eric Hyman	SEC	$800,000	$0	$800,000	$200,000

NOTE: * = During the period covered by Vanderbilt's most recently available federal tax return, Williams was Vice Chancellor/Univ. Affairs & Athletics, General Counsel, Univ. Secretary for the school and its medical center and tenured law professor. As of July '12, Williams' title changed to Vice Chancellor/Athletics & Univ. Affairs and AD. He no longer has the roles of general counsel and univ. secretary, but remains a tenured law professor (USA TODAY, 3/7).

BONUS FEATURES: Berkowitz & Upton note while some major-college ADs have "contracts that make no mention of incentive bonuses," Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt is "among a group whose agreements include bonuses for reaching goals that are regularly achieved by their programs." For example, Texas men's AD DeLoss Dodds "can get $62,500 annually if the athletics program operates 'with financial solvency,' which seems a safe bet" in a department that had more than $160M in revenue in '11-12. Hocutt has a deal in which he can "get an array of bonuses." One is a "payment equal to 6% of his base salary" if the football team participates in a non-BCS bowl game and "another in the same amount if any of 13 specified non-revenue teams 'qualify for NCAA post-season competition.'" At the time the contract began, Texas Tech's football team "had played in a bowl game in 11 consecutive seasons and its men's or women's track and field programs alone had competed in the NCAA indoor or outdoor championships every year" since '97. Nearly two pages of Florida Int'l AD Pete Garcia's 17-page contract are "devoted to a list of incentives for which he is eligible, although he is capped at an amount equal to 15% of his more than $360,000 base salary." Many of the bonuses involve "athletic, academic or fundraising achievements by the athletics program" (USATODAY.com, 3/6).