Top Athletic Directors Earn Bonuses For Ordinary Achievements

USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2013/03/06/college-athletic-director-salary-bonus/1960701/

Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt currently has a $545,900 base salary. As a practical matter, it’s about $65,000 higher than that.

While some major-college ADs have contracts that make no mention of incentive bonuses, Hocutt is among a group whose agreements include bonuses for reaching goals that are regularly achieved by their programs.

Other ADs have contracts under which their bonuses are determined in part, or in whole, at the discretion of their school presidents. In the case of at least one of those ADs, Virginia’s Craig Littlepage, positive annual evaluations have resulted in him receiving at least some bonus money in each of his 11 years on the job.

When Hocutt left Miami (Fla.) for Texas Tech early in 2011, he received a deal under which he can get one bonus equal to 6% of his base salary if the football team participates in a non-Bowl Championship Series bowl game and one bonus in the same amount if any of 13 specified non-revenue teams “qualify for NCAA postseason 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 1997.

Like Hocutt, Kansas State AD John Currie has so many opportunities for bonuses that his potential earnings are capped. According to Currie’s deal, anytime a Kansas State head coach earns a bonus “based upon athletic-related accomplishments,” Currie receives a bonus equal to 75% of the bonus paid to the head coach. Currie is limited, in any one contract year, to bonuses totaling 55% of his base salary, which at present is $450,000.