D1SCOURSE: ACC AD’s Compensation

If you didn’t see VaWolf’s fantastic series on “Financing College Athletics” then you should click here to easily access the articles. Fantastic work that will interest a lot of people.

Along those lines, of the best ACC Bloggers we know, D1SCOURSE, posted a great entry analyzing Debbie Yow’s compensation package at Maryland vs NC State vs the rest of the ACC. The entry has a lot of great information, so we wanted to link it here.

The following comments set the stage for the chart below that is taken from the article.

Some contract clauses are considered add-ons that are virtually assured of being paid. These include supplemental pay (Yow will get $100,000 of that at N.C. State) or radio/TV money.

There’s also the matter of some incidentals that are included in terms of dollars in some deals and not in others. Pretty much every AD gets an auto allowance; some get money, others get a courtesy car that wouldn’t pop up in an analysis like this.

Nonetheless, this chart is a reasonable reflection, based on an examination of the contracts, of what the ACC’s athletic directors are hauling in. Yow’s contracts at both Maryland and N.C. State are included, as is the deal of former N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler. Some explainers follow (EDIT: There was a little confusion on Radakovich’s supplemental income. His total reflects 2009-10 now, not 2010-11)

D1SCOURSE adds some observations regarding’s Yow’s financial package that I think is worth sharing:

* Yow’s N.C. State max bonus is perhaps the most glaring example of a literal interpretation. In this case, it would take all 23 of the Wolfpack’s varsity sports winning a national title to make that happen.

Here’s a more realistic scenario: N.C. State finishes fourth in the ACC in football, both basketball teams reach the NCAA tournament (but don’t win the ACC), a total of eight teams reach the NCAA tournament and the department meets its APR, graduation rate and Director’s Cup benchmarks. That bonus would come out to $153,000. Clearly, her new deal has a generous bonus package, but it’s not as outlandish as the chart would suggest.

* Yow’s move pretty clearly isn’t about money; the compensation will turn out to be similar. While the cost of living is more tolerable in the Triangle, the extra cash is far from the top of the list of explanations as to why she would switch jobs.