The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Report shows salary variation

While Marquette administrators are paid below the median salary for private doctoral schools, head men's basketball coach Tom Crean is paid several times what any Marquette administrator is paid.

The highest paid administrators include Senior Vice President Greg Kliebhan, who made $250,497 during the 2002-'03 school year and Provost Madeline Wake, who made $245,247 in pay and benefits, less than one-third of Crean's salary. David Shrock, dean of the College of Business, made $234,234 and Anthony Iacopino, associate dean for research and graduate studies and professor of dentistry, made $204,413. The figures were published in the Nov. 19 Chronicle of Higher Education.

University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild, like many other Jesuit university presidents, does not receive a salary, but the university pays the Marquette Jesuit Association, to which Wild belongs, for his services. Brigid O'Brien, director of university communication, said the amount the association receives is not disclosed.

Crean made $807,128 in pay and benefits during the 2002-'03 school year. After the men's basketball team made the Final Four, Crean signed a new contract believed to be worth about $1.1 million per year, according to the April 23, 2003 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Marquette is one of 21 private doctoral universities which lists at least one athletic head coach in their list of the top five salaries in the university in the article. The 2002-'03 figures were the latest available.

University lags in administrator pay

Marquette is behind many other schools in terms of administrator pay. The median presidential salary at private doctoral universities in 2002-'03 was $469,643. William R. Brody, president of Johns Hopkins University, made the most with $897,786, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

But a median salary doesn't mean a lot, considering the variables that influence administrators' salaries, according to the Rev. Charles Currie, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. He said many factors, including cost-of-living, the size of the university and the location of the school are considered when a university's Board of Trustees decides on officials' salaries.

The university believes their pay for administrators is fair. "Marquette makes fair and competitive compensation a key priority for attracting and retaining the best faculty and staff," O'Brien said in a statement.

University criticized for focusing on athletics

Critics say by paying a coach more than administrators, the university has placed its priorities on athletics, not academics.

Paying a coach more than administrators "is an open admission that you're in the entertainment business," said William Friday, president emeritus of the University of North Carolina and chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which supports reform and opposes commercialization in college athletics. "They're not sticking to the fundamental mission of the university."

University officials contend it is maintaining its mission

"The depth of Marquette's commitment to its mission has been noted by even independent accreditors," O'Brien said in the statement. O'Brien said the accreditors, who were from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, had praised the university in its report for having a mission "that is well-understood, articulated and lived by all its constitutents."

The athletic department would not comment about Friday's claims.

Coaches also highly paid elsewhere

Crean is not the only athletic coach at a private school who is paid more than administrators. At the University of Southern California, football head coach Pete Carroll was paid over $1.6 million in 2002-'03, just over twice what USC president Steven Sample made, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The increasing salaries are not a surprise to one expert, who compared collegiate coaches to a market.

"If you're going to compete in that marketplace, you have to be ready," said James Hoyt, professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a specialist in NCAA regulations and athletics/academics. He said if one school raises what it offers to a coach, other schools will do the same to keep their coaches or attract new coaches to their school.

Crean re-signed with Marquette after the University of Illinois reportedly tried to recruit him, according to the April 22, 2003 issue of the Tribune.

Other Jesuit schools place their coaches at the top of their payroll list. At Boston College, football coach Tom O'Brien made $613,632 and men's basketball coach Albert Skinner made $540,668, both higher than professor Alan Wolfe's $400,909. At Fordham University, men's basketball coach Robert Hill made $348,701, a salary higher than all but one professor. The presidents at both universities are Jesuits and, like Wild, are not compensated.

The Chronicle of Higher Education obtained all records for private colleges from a Form 990 that each institution filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The form requires non-profit institutions to list the pay and benefits of their executives and key employees.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Dec. 7 2004.

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