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).
