How much the University of Tennessee pays its top coaches and administrators
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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 must the University of Tennessee pays its top employees.
Coaches rank as top 5 best-paid University of Tennessee employees
USA TODAY Network-Tennessee 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.
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, Knox News reported.
White is 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.
Best-paid administrative and academic roles at University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Notably, University of Tennessee 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. 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 Knoxville News Sentinel: University of Tennessee salaries for coaches and top administrators