Petrino, Pelphrey Top Highest-Paid Employee List

There are 93 state employees on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s annual list of highest-paid state employees, about a dozen of whom are University of Arkansas football coaches. The list is available here.

Overall, this group is set to take home $23.7 million in 2010.

The list, which begins on Page 16, was topped by Bobby Petrino, who is scheduled to receive $2.85 million. Before exclaiming that this is too much to pay a football coach on the public dime during a recession, remember that the majority of that is private compensation. The same goes for this year’s No. 2, Arkansas basketball coach John Pelphrey, who will be making $1.24 million in 2010.

Other notables include Arkansas athletic director No. 4 Jeff Long ($450,000), No. 6 University of Arkansas system president B. Alan Sugg ($354,862), and No. 9 UA chancellor G. David Gearhart ($328,516). The list includes deans, department chairs, business professors, doctors and more.