Ohio University will spend close to half a million dollars more this year than in the past to compensate its 10 highest-paid administrators.
After raises to Athletics’ administrators, a proposed contract for OU President Roderick McDavis and a new dean for OU’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, OU will now provide up to four top administrators with compensation of $400,000 or more.
Overall, compensation for the 10 highest-paid administrators will increase by 17.3 percent from the 2011–12 fiscal year.
Frank Solich, head football coach, became OU’s top-paid administrator after he signed a contract in July. He will make $445,000 this year in base salary and bonuses. He is also scheduled to receive a $275,000 retention bonus Dec. 31, according to his contract.
Jim Christian, the newly hired head men’s basketball coach, signed a contract in July that will compensate him with $425,000 annually.
Director of Athletics Jim Schaus is also among the top 10 highest-paid OU employees, with a salary of $247,000.
Reactions to these contracts have been varied among faculty and administrators.
“There’s lots of examples out there that (universities) have had a brief run of luck or success, whatever you want to call it, and doubled down on their investment and quickly regretted doing that,” former Faculty Senate Chair Joseph McLaughlin said in an April Post article about Christian’s salary. “It’s indicative of a misplaced set of priorities.”
McDavis, the third-highest-paid administrator at the university, said in the same article that hiring Christian would add value to the Athletics program.
“We believe that there’s a certain market value that a head coach has,” McDavis said. “Certainly, where Coach Christian was at, we think we were able to provide him with a good salary for this position and feel very comfortable with the way we approached his compensation for the work he’s going to do as a head coach.”
McDavis’ current salary is $390,321. However, he was recently offered a new contract by the OU Board of Trustees at its meeting last Thursday that would increase his annual salary to $415,000. He has a year to sign the contract before his previous one expires. If he does, the new salary rate will become retroactively effective as of July 1, according to a university news release.
Kenneth Johnson, dean of OU-HCOM, was hired during the summer and will receive an annual compensation of $400,000, consisting of a $268,000 base salary and a $132,000 administrative stipend, said Ann Fidler, chief of staff for the provost and chief financial officer.
“It has been 10 years since Ohio University hired a medical school dean,” she said in an email. “In those intervening years, the salaries for medical school deans have increased substantially. In order to hire a qualified candidate, we had to provide a competitive salary.”
Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, will receive $317,411 this year, a $9,245 increase from his salary last year.
bv111010@ohiou.edu
