As big-time college sports revenues "have nearly doubled over the past decade, coaches are far from the only ones cashing in," according to a front-page piece by Hobson & Rich of the WASHINGTON POST. Since '04, many ADs "have seen their pay soar and have gone on hiring sprees, surrounding themselves with well-paid executives and small armies of support staffs to help their premier teams -- primarily football -- recruit, train and plan for games." From '04 to '14, UCLA AD Dan Guerrero’s salary "increased from $299,000 to $920,000 to do the same job, and his administration grew from 97 to 141 employees, boosting UCLA’s non-coaching payroll" from $9.1M to $16M. In '04, 12 football teams in the Power Five "spent more than" $1M on staffers who were not coaches. A decade later, 34 FBS teams "had seven-figure support staff payrolls." School officials "defend expanded support staffs as providing better individual attention for athletes while allowing teams to cast wider recruiting nets." Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops, whose support staff payroll has grown from $540,000 to $1.1M in a decade, said, "It isn’t wasteful. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes." Between '04 and '14, the Michigan athletic department "added 77 new full-time positions, contributing to an administrative payroll surge" from $14.7M to $27.7M. Florida State's administrative payroll grew from $7.7M to $15.7M as well. Even struggling athletic departments "dependent on money from students to stay solvent are paying administrators more than ever." Former Rutgers AD Julie Hermann made $450,000 in '14, "up from the $345,000" that the school AD made in '04 (WASHINGTON POST, 12/30).
| SCHOOL |
'04 PAYROLL
|
'14 PAYROLL
|
INCREASE
|
| Texas |
$21,070,624
|
$35,714,699
|
69.5%
|
| Michigan |
$14,657,410
|
$27,737,280
|
89.2%
|
| Ohio State |
$15,559,386
|
$26,546,929
|
70.6%
|
| Florida |
$14,679,286
|
$24,889,345
|
69.6%
|
| Wisconsin |
$16,890,378
|
$23,775,800
|
40.8%
|
| Alabama |
$9,140,046
|
$21,672,483
|
137.1%
|
| Kansas |
$10,531,089
|
$20,400,667
|
93.7%
|
| Tennessee |
$14,551,545
|
$20,137,487
|
38.4%
|
| Oregon |
$5,977,574
|
$20,121,340
|
236.6%
|
| Auburn |
$9,031,809
|
$19,911,702
|
120.5%
|
| |
|
|
|
LOOKS CAN KILL: USA TODAY's Rachel Axon reported spending big money to brand their facilities is "becoming the norm among college athletics programs as they seek touches that administrators and coaches think will give them even the slightest competitive advantage." Auburn spent nearly $750,000 to have graphics and branding company Advent turn "more than 300 yards of wall space" at their football practice facility into "splashy orange-and-blue displays of the program’s success and motivational credos." Auburn’s building was "among more than 600 projects Advent says it has done since 2007." Fellow branding company Forty Nine Degrees is "averaging 50 to 75 a year, while Rainier Sports has seen this part of its business increase 15% to 20% a year for several years" (
USA TODAY, 12/30).
