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Top 10 highest-paid athletic directors at NCAA D1 schools last year

By Derek Helling

LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 09: Tom Jurich, athletic director at the University of Louisville introduces Bobby Petrino as the head coach of the University of Louisville at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on January 9, 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 09: Tom Jurich, athletic director at the University of Louisville introduces Bobby Petrino as the head coach of the University of Louisville at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on January 9, 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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AthleticDirectorU and Spencer Fane released a robust list of compensation for NCAA athletic directors, and the results show that the Big Ten and SEC are the places to be.

The list, which lists the base salaries, total compensation and bonuses of the ADs at most NCAA colleges/universities whose athletic programs participate on the D1 level, reveals several interesting facts about the highest-paid athletic directors.

Unlike the list of men’s basketball assistant coaches compensation compiled by the same organizations, this AD list isn’t comprehensive. The list doesn’t include figures for the ADs at 15 schools, some of which are prominent institutions, like Miami (Fla.), Syracuse and USC.

While the value of this listing is somewhat diminished by that fact, fans can still get a good sense of the landscape of athletic director compensation on a national scale. The biggest take away is that 16 ADs collected total compensation surpassing $1 million in the past fiscal year, making it a good time to be in the position.

The top 10 ADs on this list by total compensation (base salary plus any earned bonuses) were:

  1. Tom Jurich, Louisville, $2.76 million
  2. Kevin White, Duke, $1.45 million
  3. Gene Smith, Ohio State, $1.38 million
  4. Jim Phillips, Northwestern, $1.34 million
  5. John Currie, Tennessee, $1.32 million
  6. Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin, $1.24 million
  7. Chris Del Conte, TCU, $1.23 million
  8. Jeff Long, Arkansas, $1.2 million
  9. Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame, $1.18 million
  10. Kirby Hocutt, Texas Tech, $1.18 million

Taking a larger look at the list reveals further evidence of the strength of the Big Ten and SEC conferences, along with the fact that the Pac-12 conference is lagging behind the rest of the major conferences. 16 of the top 30 ADs on this list ranked by total compensation work for a school which belongs to either the Big Ten or the SEC. The average total compensation for SEC ADs last year was $892,901 while Big Ten ADs made $870,536 on average.

No Pac-12 AD appears on the list until Dan Guerrero of UCLA’s $1.04 million ranks him 15th, and Oregon State’s Scott Barnes ($875,000 24th on the list) is the only other Pac-12 AD which appears in the top 30. It must be noted, however, that information for Lynn Swann at USC and Bernard Muir at Stanford is missing from the list.

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As revenue continues to climb for these schools’ athletic programs, expect the compensation for the individuals at the top bearing most of the responsibility for those programs to continue to escalate. When this listing is compiled again next year, it shouldn’t surprise any fans to see over 20 ADs topping a million dollars in compensation.

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