Coaches, Iowa athletics director round out state's 5 highest paid

Iowa's 20 highest-paid state employees made a combined $20.4 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30 — an average cool million each.

Of course, the numbers are skewed by University of Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz, who was paid $3.825 million in fiscal 2014, according to new state salary data The Gazette obtained Monday through an Open Records request. Ferentz's compensation includes departmental base pay of $2.02 million, supplemental payments, longevity incentives and bonuses, such as the $100,000 he received when the Hawkeyes went to the 2014 Outback Bowl.

Iowa State University head men's basketball coach Fred Hoiberg ranked second in Iowa's state salary database with $1.85 million, a 33 percent increase over fiscal 2013. That boost was due to an extra $100,000 Hoiberg gets each year of his contract and $150,000 in bonuses for winning the Big 12 Tournament and going to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

Other athletics officials rounded out the fiscal 2014 Top 5, with ISU head football coach Paul Rhoads making $1.75 million, UI head men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery $1.31 million and UI athletics director Gary Barta $921,432.

Barta's pay nearly doubled from fiscal 2013, when he made $493,284, because of a $417,820 deferred compensation payment that went into his retirement fund June 1.

UI head women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder ranked 10th with $750,554 in fiscal 2014.

Administrators, surgeons and other physicians with the UI Hospitals and Clinics made up the rest of the Top 20. Many of the largest salaries are paid in part with private money.

Joseph Turek, a pediatric heart surgeon, jumped into the Top 20 with $689,382 in fiscal 2014. His compensation went up 66 percent from $415,118 in fiscal 2013 and more than doubled since fiscal 2012.

Carver College of Medicine Dean Debra Schwinn also made it to the Top 20 for the first time since she was hired in 2012. Her fiscal 2014 compensation was $725,045, up 68 percent from the previous year.

Iowa had 59,859 full-time and part-time employees in fiscal 2014 with a total payroll of $3.14 billion. The Iowa Board of Regents institutions, which include the three state universities, make up more than half of state employees. Other large agencies are Human Services with about 5,700 employees, Transportation with about 3,700 and Corrections with about 3,350, according to the database.

There were 32,840 women employed by the state last year, compared to 27,017 men.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was paid $130,000 in fiscal 2014, with 2,294 state employees above him.