Heath Tops State Employee Pay

(Click here to see the list of the state’s highest paid employees.)

The University of Arkansas apparently saved $15 per year by swapping head basketball coaches last spring.

That’s the difference in annual state salary between Nolan Richardson ($133,015) and Stan Heath ($133,000).

But Richardson, who left in a huff last spring, really made $1,030,000 per year. That’s what he was guaranteed in his contract. Of that amount, $886,000 was classified as “outside income” and included things such as athletic shoe endorsements and television appearances.

Richardson was the 12th-highest-paid college basketball coach in the United States last year and Arkansas’ highest paid state employee for several years running.

“Stan will be earning probably in the vicinity of $800,000 when you factor in what he’ll be able to earn through speaking engagements, fund-raising activities and the coach’s [television] show, and of course all of that will come from the Razorback Foundation,” said Roger Williams, a UA spokesman. Of that amount, $300,000 is classified as salary, with $167,000 coming from private sources.

That’s a pretty sweet deal for Heath, who netted a 452 percent pay raise by leaving his five-year coaching contract at Kent State University where he made $120,000 plus $25,000 in incentives per year.

And remember: People say we’re in a recession.

Heath is followed by Houston Nutt, the UA’s head football coach, with $747,644 in total compensation. That amount is based on his salary of $329,644 for the current fiscal year (which began July 1) and his outside compensation of $418,000 from last year. The outside compensation amounts are kept based on a calendar year, not the UA’s fiscal year.

Nutt had the same salary last year, but apparently earned $540,000 in outside income in calendar year 2000, for a total of $869,644.

Athletic Director Frank Broyles is third on the list with a total income of $376,385, up from $260,900 last year.

The first employee on the list who isn’t in the UA’s Athletic Department is John White, chancellor of the Fayetteville campus, whose salary is $241,880. That’s up slightly from $235,750 a year ago.