ERI recently published a whitepaper analyzing why nonprofits in the education industry pay higher, on average, than other nonprofit industries. The results showed that athletic heads are one of the highest-paid positions at education-based nonprofits. But just how much do the highest-paid athletic heads make? To answer that question, below is a list of the top 10 highest-paid athletic heads at nonprofits for the most-recent available form year (2019). ERI also has additional information on the Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletic Heads for previous years to compare and see how much nonprofit pay for athletic heads has changed.
| Company | Name | Title | Salary | Other Pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Miami | Manuel Diaz | Head Football Coach | $9,571,978 | $55,390 |
| Stanford University | David Shaw | Director of Football | $8,707,965 | $216,718 |
| University of Georgia | Kirby P. Smart | Head Football Coach | $6,475,000 | $49,673 |
| Duke University | Michael W. Krzyzewski | Basketball Coach | $6,331,096 | $1,022,386 |
| Villanova University | Jerold T. Wright | Men’s Basketball Coach | $6,150,206 | $42,046 |
| Texas Christian University | Gary A. Patterson | Head Football Coach | $5,962,646 | $140,897 |
| Northwestern University | Patrick W. Fitzgerald II | Head Football Coach | $5,687,201 | $60,978 |
| University of Pittsburgh | Patrick R. Narduzzi | Head Football Coach | $4,763,543 | $53,263 |
| University of Southern California | Charles Helton | Head Football Coach | $4,678,627 | $135,205 |
| Texas Christian University | James P. Dixon | Men's Basketball Coach | $4,264,883 | $83,092 |
It is worth noting that, although some top athletic program heads command multimillion-dollar salaries, the average pay for top athletic positions in 2019 was significantly lower, at $377,689. For a more in-depth analysis on nonprofit pay, see ERI’s recent whitepaper “How Much Do Education Nonprofits Pay?”
Looking for more information?
Detailed nonprofit executive compensation data, including source documents and historic data, can be found in ERI’s Nonprofit Comparables Assessor.
ERI Economic Research Institute compiles the most robust salary, cost-of-living, and executive compensation survey data available, with current market data for more than 1,000 industry sectors.
