More Money for Arkansas AD

Whispers explained last issue how University of Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long can realize $150,000 in the “Special Achievement Incentives” that are part of his contract.

This issue, it’s on to the “Extraordinary Achievement Incentives” Long can, um, earn. We say it that way because Long’s financial reward in relation to his “Extraordinary Achievement Incentives” are tied not to anything he does, but how Arkansas’ athletic teams perform.

When Arkansas accepted that Allstate Sugar Bowl bid, for example, Long triggered a $25,000 bonus. In all, Long can earn as much as $300,000 in “Extraordinary Achievement Incentives” in any given year.

What’s particularly interesting, though, is the money Long can earn for various Southeastern Conference championships won by Arkansas teams. In addition to big paydays (Read: $25,000 or $50,000) for football or basketball titles, Long also can cash in on any championships won in sports like tennis, golf, etc.

Long, in fact, can earn $10,000 per championship – up to a total of $50,000. The strange part is that in at least four cases – men’s and women’s tennis, women’s golf, and swimming and diving, Long’s bonus would be more than the ones earned by the coaches of those teams.

Now that’s extraordinary.

Even More

At the risk of being penalized for piling on, we also found it worth noting Long earned $150,000 in bonus money for the 2009-2010 academic year, while Arkansas’ 16 head coaches made less than $230,000 combined.

Long’s bonus money is in addition to a $450,000 base salary that ranked him fourth in that category among SEC athletic directors, according to information published by Bloomberg in 2009. That’s not too shabby for a guy constantly reminding donors Arkansas ranks near the bottom of the league in athletic department budgets.