An analysis of salaries for college basketball coaches

USA Today - NSLI Coaches' Salary Database Salaries Coaches' compensation for all 68 teams in the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Sources: Research by Steve Berkowitz and Jodi Upton of USA TODAY; Robert Lattinville and Caitlin Ahearn of Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP; and students at the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School.

Credits: Sean Dougherty and Juan Thomassie of USA TODAY.









Methodology

To determine the total pay packages of NCAA tournament coaches analyzed 2010-11 season compensation for the head men's basketball coach and/or acquired the school's federal tax return or other state disclosure data.

A not available (NA) in the chart denotes schools that are private or did not release the information, schools whose coaches are new and had not filed an outside income report, or schools whose existing coach had not filed an outside income report. In cases where an outside income report is unavailable, a coach's compensation may be undercounted by $200,000-$500,000 or more in that category alone. A $0 means the coach doesn't get compensation from that source.

Schools that provided contract information were given the opportunity to review their figures.

Explanations of compensation categories

University compensation: Includes base salary, annualized deferred payments, annuities and contractual expense accounts (most coaches have expenses covered per university policy; a few have set amounts. In the few cases where it applies, housing allowances are treated as expense accounts). It also includes television, radio, Internet deals; apparel contracts, public relations, camps and other income that the university guarantees. One-time signing or longevity bonuses — if they occurred in the current year — are included. Standard perks such as pensions, cars and country club memberships are not included.

Non-university compensation: From the most recently available NCAA-mandated outside income report, includes any athletically related income earned by the coach from outside the university. It may include a shoe/apparel contract that goes directly to the coach, speeches, camps or other money sources that the university does not guarantee, such as foundations. In some cases, this may change from year to year.

Total pay: Guaranteed and non-guaranteed income combined. It reflects what the coach earned in the past year, regardless of the source. The value of tickets, luxury suites, cars, travel, country club memberships and standard university benefits such as health care and standard retirement are not included.

Maximum bonus: The greatest amount that can be received if team meets prescribed on-court performance goals (e.g., NCAA tournament goals, win totals, regular-season and/or conference tournament championships, coaching awards, etc.), academic and/or player-conduct goals.

Unless noted, data for private schools are from a federal tax return. (Most private schools are organized as tax-exempt organizations, which are required to file each year with the IRS. The return lists the organization's highest-paid employees. At some public schools, the athletics department or a support organization also is organized as a non-profit. (USA TODAY used the most recent filing available, with compensation covering the 2008 calendar year. The return includes all income paid by the school or support organization, including benefits, perks and bonuses that might have been earned. It does not include all income paid by other sources.)

Bonuses awarded on discretionary basis not included.

Notes

Louisville: University compensation includes $3.6.million one-time, lump sump bonus paid July 1, 2010 for coach's completion of a three-year portion of his contract, from April 1, 2007 through March 31, 2010.

Missouri: Anderson resigned March 23 to become Arkansas' coach.

Tennessee: Pearl was fired March 21. His contract had not been released prior to that date; university compensation figure obtained from the school.

USA TODAY was assisted in the analysis of contracts by students from the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law School and by Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP, whose practice areas include representation of college coaches through its affiliate, Premier Stinson Sports, as well as representation of athletics directors and NCAA member institutions.

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