NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - For a league generally lumped behind its Power Five counterparts in both statistical ranks and mere perception, the Big 12 is made up of schools that can hand out wads of cash to its athletic leaders.
Athletic directors at Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma are among the highest paid at their positions and account for three of 17 Power Five athletic directors that make at least $1 million, according to a database released May 14 by AthleticDirectorU.com.
Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt ($1.45 million) is the Big 12’s highest-paid athletic director and ranks fifth nationally, while Texas’ Chris Del Conte ($1.44 million) comes in one spot behind. Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione ($1.15 million) ranks No. 9 on the list. The numbers, obtained in partnership with USA Today Sports, reflect the 2017-18 fiscal year.
The salaries are of note when considering the most recent USA Today Sports database shows 13 of the top 15 highest revenues in college sports came from either the SEC (9) or the Big Ten (4). The Big 12, however, had just Oklahoma and Texas among the highest earners in collegiate sports.
When averaged out, the Big 12’s $958,279 in athletic director compensation ranks behind only the ACC at $1,138,863. Private schools Baylor and TCU aren’t included in the database.
Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick rakes in $3.05 million, the highest athletic director salary in college sports and nearly double the amount of Northwestern’s Jim Phillips, who is second nationally at $1.57 million.
Three of the eight reported Big 12 salaries are north of seven figures. By comparison, five of 11 salaries reported from the ACC, four of 14 salaries from the Big Ten and four of 14 salaries from the SEC are more than $1 million.
Hocutt, Del Conte, Castiglione and West Virginia’s Shane Lyons received the largest pay bumps compared to figures from 2016-17. Del Conte, by way of switching jobs from TCU to Texas, netted more than $200,000. Texas invested heavily into Del Conte after paying former athletic director Mike Perrin just $750,000. Hocutt saw a $275,000 boost, and Lyons had the most notable gain, jumping from $625,000 to $920,000.
Big 12 athletic director salaries are mostly proportional when compared to revenue generated in a given year. For example, Texas, Oklahoma and West Virginia brought in north of $100 million in revenue during the 2016 fiscal year, according to USA Today’s database. Each school’s respective athletic director was compensated as such, with Del Conte, Castiglione and Lyons as three of the top four earners in the league, CNHI News reported .
Kansas State, which has the lowest budget in the conference, pays Gene Taylor $500,000, the lowest in the league and among the Power Five. Only Arizona, Indiana, Maryland and Washington pay its athletic directors less than $600,000.
Hocutt is the outlier in terms of salary relative to an athletic department’s budget. Texas Tech pays the former College Football Playoff Committee Chairman nearly $1.5 million, yet the Red Raiders’ 2016-17 revenue of $83 million ranked just sixth out of the Big 12’s public schools.
Interestingly, 91 percent of both Hocutt’s and Del Conte’s salaries come from base pay compared to Castiglione, whose base pay accounts for just 32 percent. The largest chunk - $785,000 - comes from “other” pay via private funding.
Castiglione could soon overtake Hocutt as the most handsomely compensated leader in the Big 12. Last week, he received a contract extension through 2023 that boosted his base pay from $375,000 to $450,000 and his private fund salary from $730,000 to $790,000. The deal includes $150,000 annually in a stay bonus plan, paid out each October, and a supplemental retirement income plan of $160,000.
The total value of the new contract, when factoring in the bonus and retirement plan, exceeds $1.5 million, which, based off the current figures, would vault Castiglione to No. 3 nationally.
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