Who are the highest-paid employees in the University of Tennessee system?

The University of Tennessee system employs more than 12,000 people across all 95 of the state's counties, according to the system's website. The Knoxville campus makes up roughly 75% of that workforce.

A publicly available database of salaries for all paid, regular, active employees at UT revealed those making the most center around athletics, health and science, and administrative roles. It's important to note the database does not include additional or supplemental pay and reflects base salaries as of November 2022.

Here's how UT's top-paid employees break down.

Coaches rank as top 5 best-paid University of Tennessee employees

The Tennessean requested a list of coaches with the highest pay, including salaries and additional pay, and compared them to publicly posted contracts and their latest amendments for those roles.

At $9 million a year, Josh Heupel, the head football coach for Tennessee, brings in the most across the UT system. While Heupel's base yearly salary is set at $275,000, he makes around $8.725 million in supplemental pay. He recently received a contract extension through 2029.

Related: Every Tennessee football assistant coach has a contract past 2023 — except one

Here are the other top-earning coaches in the UT system, based on their yearly base and supplemental pay, who are all based in Knoxville:

Rick Barnes, head men's basketball coach

• Base pay: $245,000

• Supplemental pay: $5,455,000

• Total pay: ‭$5,700,000

Tony Vitello, head baseball coach

• Base pay: $350,000

• Supplemental pay: $1,150,000

• Total pay: $1,500,000

Tim Banks, assistant football coach

• Base pay: $290,000

• Supplemental pay: $1,210,000

• Total pay: $1,500,000

Kellie Harper, head women's basketball coach

• Base pay: $275,000

• Supplemental pay: $825,000

• Total pay: $1,100,000

Other than top-paid coaches, the employee who makes the most in the entire UT system is Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Daniel White, who recently got a raise bringing him to a $2.2 million base salary, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. He works at the university's flagship campus in Knoxville.

White is also eligible to receive up to $300,000 in incentives, based on team athletic performance, team academic performance and departmental operational goals. He also gets a 5% salary increase each year as part of his contract. Coaches can also receive bonuses for championship wins, bowl games and other achievements.

Find a collection of executive and coaching contracts at tennessee.edu/transparency/contracts.

Related: Unpacking Danny White's raise, extension as Tennessee athletics director

Best-paid administrative and academic roles at UT-Knoxville

Notably, UT system President Randy Boyd serves without a salary, but does receive $10,000 yearly to cover state health insurance costs.

While a handful of contracts are posted for upper administrators on the UT system website, most salary information is listed in its searchable database, which reflects salaries as of Nov. 20, 2022. The database does not include any additional pay or bonuses.

Here are the top five, not including White.

Chancellor Donde Plowman

Plowman has a base salary of $820,000. She received a 24% raise in 2022 after propelling the university to become the fastest-growing in the Southeastern Conference, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Plowman became the highest-paid chancellor in the university's history when she was hired in 2019. Former Chancellor Beverly Davenport was previously the highest-paid chancellor with a $585,000 annual salary.

And here are the remaining four:

• Stephen Mangum, professor and business dean: $531,280

• *Chris Cimino, senior vice chancellor of finance and administration: $456,292

• Bruce Behn, associate business dean and professor: $450,397

• Shay Scott, professor of practice and Global Supply Chain Institute executive director: $440,185

*Cimino retired in 2022. Salary information for his interim successor, Allen Bolton, was not yet available on the salary portal since it dates back to November.

Who makes the most at the UT Health Science Center?

The UT Health Science Center, located in Memphis, is home to programs for dentistry, graduate health sciences, health professions, medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

Here's are the top five salary-earners at that campus, according to the online database.

• Dr. Peter Buckley, chancellor: $988,000

• Dr. David Shibata, professor and chair: $833,195

• Dr. Scott Strome, executive dean: $821,912

• Dr. Neil Hayes, professor, Hayes Research Lab director: $616,090

• *Kennard Brown, executive vice chancellor and COO: $606,674

*Brown retired in February. Salary information for his successor, Raaj Kurapati, was not yet available on the salary portal since it dates back to November.

Who makes $500K or more in the University of Tennessee system?

All system employees who make $500,000 or more are based at UT's main campus in Knoxville or at its Health Science Center in Memphis.

Here are their annual salaries, according to their latest contracts and salaries listed on the UT system website. Supplemental pay for coaches is added in, where applicable. Bonuses and incentives are not included, and the totals are rounded to the nearest whole number.

This list does not include those we were previously mentioned.

• Glen Elarbee, assistant football coach: $900,000

• Joey Halzle, assistant football coach: $850,000

• Rodney Garner, assistant football coach: $785,000

• Brian Jean-Mary, assistant football coach: $665,000

• Mike Ekeler, assistant football coach: $575,000

• Dr. Steve Schwab, professor, UT Health Science Center: $551,964

• Willie Martinez, assistant football coach: $540,000

• Dr. Robert Craft, professor, UT Health Science Center: $504,181

• Dr. James Haynes, dean, UT Health Science Center: $500,000

• Jerry Mack, assistant football coach: $500,000

Who makes the most at UT-Chattanooga, UT-Martin and UT-Southern?

High-ranking academic and administrative roles top the salary charts at UT-Chattanooga, UT-Martin and UT-Southern. Here are the top 10 salary-earners for each campus, based on records obtained by The Tennessean. The numbers include annual salaries and supplemental pay, where applicable. Bonuses and incentives are not included, and the totals are rounded to the nearest whole number.

UT-Chattanooga

• Steven Angle, chancellor: $420,812

• Russell Wright, head football coach: $393,900

• Hemant Jain, business professor and Max Finley chair: $375,944

• Milan Earl, head men's basketball coach: $366,900

• Robert Dooley, business dean and professor: $346,808

• Jerold Hale, provost and senior vice chancellor: $330,165

• Daniel Pack, engineering dean and professor: $327,638

• Anthony Skjellum, research institute director and professor: $324,700

• Mina Sartipi, director of Center for Urban Informatics and Progress: $317,517

• Rebecca Shortridge, accounting department head and chair: $283,050

UT-Martin

• Tommy Cates, Tom E. Hendrix Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise and business professor: $321,659

• Sean Walker, management, marketing and information systems interim chair and professor: $285,603

• Jason Simpson, head football coach: $267,090

• Joey Mehlhorn, agriculture, geoscience and natural resources professor and dean of graduate studies: $265,028

• Keith Carver, chancellor: $255,493

• Brandon Kilburn, management, marketing and information systems professor: $251,919

• Philip Cavalier, academic affairs provost and vice chancellor: $239,801

• Ryan Ridder, men's basketball head coach: $228,000

• Petra McPhearson, finance and administration vice chancellor: $196,483

• Ahmad Tootoonchi, dean of business and global affairs: $184,442

UT-Southern

• Judy Cheatham, academic provost: $166,350

• Robert Shelton, executive vice chancellor and COO: $138,375

• Lorie Jones, associate business professor: $128,912

• Patrick Ford, business instructor: $110,655

• Cedrick Nkulu, CIO: $109,301

• Gennifer Baker, assistant nursing professor: $106,498

• George Cheatham Jr., English professor: $98,173

• Mae Decker, assistant nursing professor: $96,313

• James Hlubb, assistant vice chancellor, human resources: $93,768

• Rhonda Clinard, associate vice chancellor: $92,100

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Who are highest-paid employees in University of Tennessee system?