President Setting

When you think of a university president, what do you think they are worth, compensation-wise? Their institutions are not generally profit-making oriented, but they often deal with huge sums of money… frequently reaching into the billions of dollars.  Is it academic excellence? Placement of their graduates into the highest levels of the work-world, public service or other leadership positions? Running a sports program that generates lots of excess cash for the academic part? Fixing a scandal that racked the school? Building a national reputation? Attracting the best and the brightest? Attracting enough to make the financial realities tolerable? Raising donations from alumni and other major donors? Depends on the school?

Okay, let’s look at what colleges at the top of the food chain pay their coaches for a hint at what a college president might be worth:

Highest Paid College Football Coaches in 2013 (per BleacherReport.com)

1.      Nick Saban: Alabama, $5,545,852

2.      Mack Brown: Texas, $5,453,750

3.      Bret Bielema: Arkansas, $5,158,863

4.      Butch Jones: Tennessee, $4,860,000

5.      Bob Stoops: Oklahoma, $4,773,167

6.      Urban Meyer: Ohio State, $4,608,000  

7.      Les Miles: LSU, $4,459,363

8.      Brady Hoke: Michigan, $4,154,000

9.      Kirk Ferentz: Iowa, $3,985,000

10.  Charlie Strong: Louisville, $3,738,500

How about basketball coaches? Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski’s (pictured above) 2013’s pay is $7,233,976. Rick Pitino at Louisville gets a base package of $4,078,327 with additional compensation to a total of $4,973,343, and state coaches likes Kansas’ Bill Self grabs $4,750,763 and Ohio State’s Thad Matta takes in $3,194,000. USA Today. Does any of this impact your decision of what’s fair for a college president?  

“Forty-two presidents of private colleges were paid more than a million dollars in 2011, up from 36 for the previous two years, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual analysis of the colleges’ latest available tax forms… The three top earners were Robert J. Zimmer, University of Chicago ($3,358,723); Joseph E. Aoun, Northeastern University ($3,121,864); and Dennis J. Murray, Marist College ($2,688,148).

“According to the Chronicle, Dr. Zimmer’s pay doubled in 2011, Dr. Aoun’s nearly tripled in the same time, and Dr. Murray’s almost quadrupled from the previous year. Although their base salaries all remained under $1 million, the top three, like many other highly paid presidents, earned much more from retirement packages, bonuses or deferred compensation…The Chronicle found 180 presidents earning more than $500,000 in 2011, compared with 50 in 2004.” New York Times, December 15^th.

“[Last year, t]he nation’s highest-earning public university president in the 2011-12 fiscal year was Graham B. Spanier, the ousted [and subsequently indicted in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal that resulted in the conviction of Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky] head of Penn State University. While his base pay was $351,000 and his deferred pay was a generous $1.248 million, it was his severance pay of $1.225 million that propelled him to the top of the list, with total compensation worth $2.907 million.…

“After Spanier, three other presidents enjoyed pay packages that came to more than $1 million. Jay Gogue of Auburn University in Alabama earned $2.543 million. E. Gordon Gee at Ohio State made $1.899 million and Alan G. Merton of George Mason earned $1.869 million. Merten left George Mason in June 2012 after serving 16 years as president. His package included a hefty $1.193 million in retirement benefits.” Forbes.com, May 13^th.

All this is coming in a period of severe cutbacks in scholarship and general educational support from the federal government as well as most states and local governments. Is this money well-spent? Are we more competitive globally today? Are our colleges and universities just getting better or are we kidding ourselves into believing that this is how money for education should be spent? Are colleges there to educate/conduct research or to provide mass entertainment? How do you feel about all this?

I’m Peter Dekom, and it certainly gets interesting when you look at how our college compensation practices reflect this nation’s true priorities.