METHODOLOGY

To determine the total pay packages of Football Bowl Subdivision athletics directors we requested all forms of compensation for the athletics directors at public schools. About 20 of the 129 FBS schools are private or are public schools covered under state law exempting them from releasing salary data on athletics directors. For those schools, we used compensation information from the school’s most recent Internal Revenue Service Form 990 filing. Since contract years varied greatly among the operative employment agreements of the schools surveyed, we determined Base Salary as of July 1, 2017 and Other University Compensation earned or received during the contract year that included the 2016-2017 academic year. Compensation adjustments not memorialized in writing as of the date of the document request may affect compensation totals. Compensation for athletic directors of private schools was determined by reviewing the schools' most recent IRS Form 990 filings.  A not available (N/A) in the chart denotes schools that are private or did not release the information or schools whose athletic directors are new and had not filed an outside income report.

EXPLANATIONS OF COMPENSATION CATEGORIES

BASE SALARY:  Income designated as Base Salary in the Contracts, which sum is used to determine the schools’ benefits obligations such as retirement contributions.

OTHER UNIVERSITY COMPENSATION:  Income from Contract provisions other than Base Salary that is paid, or guaranteed, by the university or affiliated organizations, such as a foundation. Examples include payments in consideration for: shoe and apparel use; television, radio or other media appearances; personal appearances.

It also includes deferred payments earned annually, conditional or otherwise; certain payments based on attendance, ticket revenue or sales; contractual expense accounts (if unaudited) or housing allowances; signing and other one-time bonuses earned in the current contract year; and buyouts paid to an athletics director's previous employer. These one-time or non-recurring payments may skew an athletic director’s compensation in a given year relative to its average over the Contract’s term.

It does not include amounts that may have been earned as annual incentive bonuses in other years, the value of standard university benefits such as health care or the value of potentially taxable items called for in Contracts such as cars; country club memberships; game tickets for the regular season, postseason and other sports; the value of stadium suites, travel upgrades, private aircraft or spouse/family travel and game tickets.

Salaries reported do not take into account deductions that have, or may, occur because of state government furlough, or other pay-reduction, actions.

TOTAL COMPENSATION: Sum of university compensation. A 2016 NCAA rule change ended the schools’ obligations to report outside income, so outside income (typically $0.0 or a nominal sum for athletic directors) is not presented.

MAXIMUM BONUS: The greatest amount that can be received for meeting all prescribed performance goals (for instance: departmental academic and financial benchmarks; or competitive achievements of all or specific teams), and/or athlete conduct  rules-and compliance goals.  It typically does not include possible payments based on percentages of ticket revenue or sales or departmental fundraising amounts, unless such amounts can be independently determined.

NOTES

Arkansas State: Athletic Director Terry Mohajir is a party to a personal services agreement with the Red Wolves Club that guarantees him an annual bonus of $40,000

Auburn: Athletic Director Jay Jacobs’ current annual compensation is $735,600.

Boston College: Athletic Director Martin Jarmond’s hire at Boston College post-dated BC’s most recent IRS Form 990 filing. In 2014, Athletic Director Jarmond’s predecessor Brad Bates earned a base salary of $516,715 and bonuses and incentive compensation totaling $25,000 (exclusive of retirement benefits and other reportable compensation).

Indiana: Athletic Director Fred Glass is an at will employee.

New Mexico:  Athletic Director Paul Krebs resigned effective June 30, 2017.

Southern Mississippi: Jon Gilbert became the athletic director as of March 1, 2017. We have included former athletic director McGillis in this survey, as AD Gilbert's full contract had not been received as of the date of publication. Media reports indicate that Gilbert's compensation package is not materially different than what McGillis was scheduled to earn through July 17, 2017.

UNC-Charlotte: Athletic Director Judy Rose is an at will employee.

University of Louisville: Athletic Director Jurich is a party to two employment agreements entered into concurrently on October 1, 2007 with the (1) University of Louisville; and (2) the University of Louisville Foundation, Inc. (the, “Foundation”). These employment agreements provide for compensation to be paid to Athletic Director Jurich from the University of Louisville Athletic Association (the, “Association”) and the Foundation. Some of the compensation components of these agreements (e.g., the payment of insurance premiums, bonuses based on a percentage of such premiums, extraordinary performance bonuses, etc.) are subject to discretion and/or annual market variations and thus difficult to verify.  Therefore, the compensation figure included in the survey includes Base Salary, which is the total compensation paid by the Association per its most recently available IRS 990 (covering calendar year 2015).  The Association’s tax return stated that $333,333 of Jurich’s 2015 total had been reported as deferred compensation on prior years’ returns. A 990 covering the Foundation’s 2015 calendar year was not received at the time of this publication. In calendar year 2014, the Foundation’s tax return indicated that Athletic Director Jurich received $255,917.  The Louisville Courier Journal recently published a copy of the special forensic accounting commissioned by the University relating to the activities and accounts of the Foundation and its subsidiaries and affiliates, wherein it was reported that Athletic Director Jurich’s compensation in 2016 was $5,350,278.

University of Southern California:  Athletic Director Lynn Swann’s tenure at USC post-dates USC’s most recent IRS Form 990 filing.  In 2014, Athletic Director Swann’s predecessor, Pat Haden, earned a Base Salary of $1,380,757 and bonus and incentive compensation totaling $1,200,000 (exclusive of retirement benefits and other reportable compensation).

University of Texas El Paso: UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull’s Employment Agreement provides for a Retention Payment due on or before October 31, 2017 equal to his then current Base Salary.

Virginia: Athletic Director Craig Littlepage’s current Contract includes a “Final Deferred Comp” line item, pursuant to which the University will add $100,000 to his deferred compensation within 30 days of notice of his retirement date. Per our methodology, a contractual retirement contribution of $42,848 was excluded in the current year. Notably, Athletic Director Littlepage’s bonus eligibility and amount are not tied to express performance or other criteria, rather bonuses may be awarded based upon a performance assessment by the UVA President.

Western Michigan: Athletic Director Kathy Beauregard is an at will employee.

CREDITS:

By: Robert Lattinville and Roger Denny, co-chairs of the Collegiate Athletics Legal Team at Spencer Fane LLP.  Research assistance provided by John Schwartz, an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.