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How Much Can WVU Pay for the New AD?

As West Virginia University embarks on the search for a replacement to Shane Lyons as Director of Athletics, there is a lot of emphasis on who would be a good fit. Interim Athletic Director Rob Alsop spoke to that in general terms earlier this week.

“When you think of any type of leader, you want someone who knows, understands and appreciates the team that’s here, the culture that’s been developed and that we continue on that trajectory of empowering individuals to do the best that they can,” Alsop said.

But there will also be the question of salary. Perhaps that is not the most important motivator for a class of professionals that is already well compensated, but West Virginia will have to be competitive.

Lyons annual base salary through this year was $895,000. His contract raised that to $931,000 from 2023 through 2026. There were also financial incentives for participation in national and conference-level committees, fund-raising and performance. With incentives, Lyons’ compensation for 2021 was $1,050,833, according to the state Auditor’s data at westvirginia.opengov.com.

That salary level puts WVU in about the middle for the Big 12 conference. Figures collected by USA Today and Syracuse University, and posted at Athleticdirectoru.com, show that for the period from July 2020 to June 2021 Texas AD Chris Del Conte had the highest base salary in the league—and in the country—at $2.4 million. Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione was next highest in the Big 12 at just over $2 million.

Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt is the third highest paid at $1.9 million. Iowa State’s Jamie Pollard and Oklahoma State’s Mike Holder were right about the $1 million mark, while Travis Goff at Kansas and Kansas State’s Gene Taylor each had a base salary of $700,000.  Baylor and TCU are private schools, and their AD salary figures were not immediately available.

Whenever the AD job is open at WVU, there is always chatter about Whit Babcock and Rob Mullins, although there is no indication that either is interested in coming here or that the firm doing the search will include their names. However, it is interesting to look at their salaries as a comparison.

Babcock is a Virginia native and a graduate of James Madison, but he has a Masters Degree in sports management from WVU and worked in the University’s athletic department. He has been the AD at Virginia Tech since 2014.

Babcock signed a contract extension last year that runs through June 2029.  According to salary data on the ADU website, Babcock’s compensation in the 2020-2021 fiscal year was $1.2 million, third highest in the ACC.

Mullins is a Morgantown, West Virginia native and a graduate of WVU. He has been AD at the University of Oregon since 2010 and he just recently signed a five year contract extension.  According to reports, Mullins’ compensation will increase from $717,500 plus deferred compensation, performance and retention bonuses to $980,000 salary plus the same bonuses.

It will be up to WVU President Gordon Gee and the next AD to negotiate salary, incentives and benefits. These and other salary figures from Power Five schools show that West Virginia is already in a competitive range for the next athletic director.





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