One-time pay hike for Iowa President Mason moves her close to UI's top earners

For once, University of Iowa President Sally Mason's salary is right up there with the coaches, hospital administrators and surgeons she leads.

Mason was paid $972,605 in the year that ended June 30 — almost double the $492,000 she made the previous year — because of one-time retention pay she received after being at UI for five years.

Mason is the fifth-highest paid state employee for fiscal 2013, behind the football and basketball coaches at UI and Iowa State University. The state's highest-paid employee, yet again, is UI Football Coach Kirk Ferentz, who was paid $3.77 million last year.

But Ferentz's raise was just 1.34 percent, compared to ISU Head Football Coach Paul Rhoads, whose pay jumped 44 percent from $1.42 million to $2 million between fiscal years 2012 and 2013. Rhoads received $300,000 in retention pay and $100,000 for making it to the Liberty Bowl in December 2012.

Fred Hoiberg, ISU's head basketball coach, got a 53 percent raise last year to $1.39 from $908,532 in fiscal 2012. Hoiberg received new contracts in 2012 and 2013 that increased his pay, ISU officials said. He also received $75,000 in bonuses last spring for making the NCAA Tournament and winning one game.

But ISU Athletics Director Jamie Pollard got the biggest bump among the state's top earners. His salary doubled from $450,000 to $900,000 because of a one-time $400,000 retention payment he received last year after eight years on the job and a $50,000 raise.

ESPN reported in March that Pollard was the third-highest paid athletic director in the Big 12 last year and 12

^th

-highest in the nation.

The state salary database made public Friday includes nearly 60,000 employees with a combined payroll of $3.07 billion for fiscal 2013. Iowa's public universities make up the largest share, with the UI and UI Hospitals and Clinics accounting for 35 percent of the state employees. Part-time and student employees are also listed.

The database includes 32,573 women with a median salary of $46,658 and 26,914 men with a median salary of $51,371.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was paid $130,000 last year, with 2,160 state employees ahead of him.

Coaches and doctors are always the top earners, with many of the largest salaries being paid in part with private money and not out of the state general fund.

Below are the top 20 highest-paid state employees with their FY12 and FY13 total salaries, along with percent change between the years.

Kirk Ferentz

UI Head Football Coach

$3,725,000

$3,775,000

1.34%

Paul Rhoads

ISU Head Football Coach

$1,425,000

$2,050,000

43.86%

Fred Hoiberg

ISU Head Men's Basketball Coach

$908,532

$1,391,667

53.18%

Fran McCaffery

UI Head Men's Basketball Coach

$872,169

$1,060,554

21.60%

Sally Mason

UI President

$492,000

$972,605

97.68%

Jamie Pollard

ISU Athletics Director

$450,000

$900,000

100.00%

Mark Iannettoni

UI Professor, cardiothoracic surgery

$861,438

$867,819

0.74%

Alan Reed

UI Professor, transplant surgery

$777,248

$821,565

5.70%

Kenneth Kates

Assoc. VP and CEO of UIHC

$774,781

$770,263

-0.58%

Jean Robillard

UI VP For Medical Affairs

$720,604

$700,969

-2.72%

Ronald Weigel

UI Exec. Head Surgery Dept.

$590,990

$696,592

17.87%

Matthew Howard

UI Professor, neurosurgery

$660,019

$690,038

4.55%

Joel Shilyansky

UI Assoc. Professor, surgery

$486,279

$689,059

41.70%

James Davis

UI Clinical Assoc. Professor, pediatric surgery

$676,385

$686,793

1.54%

Kirk Fridrich

UI Professor, oral surgery

$654,474

$664,318

1.50%

John Buatti

UI Professor, radiation oncology

$637,979

$647,330

1.47%

Lisa Bluder

UI Head Women's Basketball Coach

$568,000

$639,619

12.61%

Bruce Gantz

UI Professor, otolaryngology

$637,851

$627,350

-1.65%

Arnold Menezes

UI Professor, neurosurgery

$568,814

$624,477

9.79%

Patrick Hitchon

UI Professor, neurosurgery

$565,452

$624,054

10.36%

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