The good folks at Athletic Director U have recently published a wide-ranging survey on an interesting topic without much data out there: FBS AD compensation. Robert Lattinville and Roger Denny’s survey doesn’t break out AD salaries like the USA Today coaching databases, but it’s still an interesting and enlightening look at the people running the largest athletics departments in the country.
The average FBS AD makes $605,000 a year. Broken out by CFP designation, the average Group of 5 AD earns $320,000 and the average Power 5 AD brings home $877,000. Broken out even further by conference, Power 5 AD compensation ranges from $1.079 million in the ACC to $695,000 in the Pac-12. SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 AD averages are roughly within $50,000 of each other, from around $840,000 to around $890,000.
The study is full of other interesting data, such as why Tom Jurich is the highest-paid AD in relation to his school’s revenue and expenses, and Texas’s Mike Perrin is the lowest.
Additionally, the average AD has seen his or her pay increase 31.9 percent over the past five years, and the average AD who has been in his or her same job for the past five years has seen their pay jump 25.7 percent over that span.
The study is packed full of what it pays to be an AD and the type of people getting AD jobs. Click here to see it.
