Who is the highest-paid athletic director? Salaries for college football and basketball coaches have exploded in recent years, with many of them making more than $10 million per year. While athletic directors don’t make that much, their salaries are quickly climbing.
Importantly, many salaries for the highest-paid athletic directors aren’t known. For some schools, compensation doesn’t have to be reported because they are private institutions (University of Southern California, Notre Dame), while other salaries haven’t been reported for a few years.
Here, we are compiling the top salaries we could find disclosed by universities or uncovered by reporters
1. Chris Del Conte, Texas Longhorns – $2.8 million
Chris Del Conte got his first crack at being an athletic director at Rice University, which he held from 2006 to ’09 before Texas Christian University hired him for the same position in 2009. Del Conte oversaw the Horned Frogs’ athletic departments until 2017, when the University of Texas at Austin hired him. Texas approved a raise in a new extension for Del Conte in 2019, locking him up through 2027, and it approved another contract extension in August 2023. In mid-August 2025, Texas signed Del Conte to a new multi-year extension through 2036. Del Conte earns $2.8 million in 2025, $2.9 million in 2026, and the yearly salary bumps will result in him earning a $4.25 million base salary in 2036.
Related: Highest-Paid College Football Players 2025, including Texas QB Arch Manning
2. Danny White, Tennessee Volunteers – $2.75 million
Danny White has proven to be one of the best athletic directors in college football. As the University of Central Florida’s athletic director (2015-2021), he decided to hire Scott Frost after George O’Leary stepped down following an 0-12 season in 2015. From 2017-19, the UCF Knights football team went a combined 35-4 with Frost and then Josh Heupel. After his success at Central Florida, the University of Tennessee hired White to replace Phillip Fulmer as athletic director. It’s a decision that turned the Tennessee Volunteers’ athletics program around.
Related: Highest-Paid College Football Coaches 2025
Starting with the football program, White brought Heupel with him to take over a team that went 3-7 in its final year under Jeremy Pruitt. Two years later, the Volunteers went 11-2, and they’ve won nine-plus games in three consecutive seasons with their first College Football Playoff appearance in 2024. Meanwhile, the Vols’ baseball team won its first College World Series title in 2024, having also made the CWS in 2021 and 2023. As for the men’s basketball team, while Rick Barnes was hired in 2015, the program has gone 109-36 with consecutive Elite Eight trips since 2021. Given all of that success, it’s no surprise that in 2024, Tennessee made White one of the highest-paid athletic directors in the nation with a $2.75 million average annual salary.
3. Warde Manuel, Michigan Wolverines athletic director – $2.3 million
The University of Michigan hired Warde Manuel as athletic director in 2016, pulling him away from the UConn Huskies. Returning to his alma mater, the Michigan Wolverines athletic director signed a new deal in December 2024 that will keep him with the school through the summer of 2030. Under his current deal, Manuel is making an estimated $2.4 million per year, but some of that compensation is deferred several years down the line. He is now the highest-paid athletic director in the Big Ten conference.
4. Trev Alberts, Texas A&M Aggies athletic director – $2.2 million
The Nebraska Cornhuskers signed Trev Alberts to a lucrative contract extension in November 2024, doubling his salary to $1.7 million. A few months later, when Ross Bjork left to become the Ohio State Buckeyes athletic director, the Texas A&M Aggies announced Trev Alberts as their new AD and paid off the $4.12 million buyout to Nebraska. The contract, signed in the summer of 2024, carries an average annual base salary of $2.2 million per year, with his salary steadily increasing over five years. There are also details in the contract requiring the school to “engage in a meaningful discussion” on a contract extension before April 1, 2027.
Related: Biggest College Football Coaches Buyouts
5. Scott Stricklin, Florida Gators athletic director – $2.075 million
Hired as the Florida Gators athletic director in 2016, the University of Florida signed Scott Stricklin to a new contract extension ahead of the 2025 college football season. Just months removed from the Gators’ men’s basketball team winning the national championship, Stricklin’s deal awarded him with a $250,000 raise from his previous annual salary ($1.8 million). Notably, per ESPN, the contract also allows him to become “special assistant to the athletic director” for five years at Florida once he retires.
Related: Highest-Paid College Football Coordinators 2025
6. Greg Byrne, Alabama Crimson Tide athletic director – $2.09 million
Since being hired in 2017, poached from Arizona, University of Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne has received six raises and contract extensions in a seven-year span. The latest deal, approved in March 2024, gives him a $1.955 million base salary in 2025. Alabama’s athletic director will receive a $2.025 million base salary beginning in the summer of 2026, with subsequent raises for 2027 ($2.095 million), 2028 ($2.167 million), 2029 ($2.235 million), and 2030 ($2.305 million). Byrne’s eight-year deal has an average annual value of $2.09 million per year.
Related: Alabama Game Today, Crimson Tide Football Schedule 2025
7. Ross Bjork, Ohio State Buckeyes athletic director – $2 million
Ohio State University athletic director Ross Bjork worked his way up from being an assistant development coordinator for Western Kentucky University (1996–’97) to an associate athletic director for the University of Miami (2003–’05), followed by a stint as UCLA’s senior associate athletic director (2005–’10). He got his first shot at the big chair with Western Kentucky (2010–’12), moved on to Ole Miss (2012–’19), and then had a stint at Texas A&M (2019–2024).
Related: Ohio State Game Today, Buckeyes Football Schedule 2025
In 2024, Ohio State hired him and made him one of the highest-paid athletic directors ever by starting him at a $2 million salary. Bjork’s five-year deal, which runs through 2029, has a $1.65 million base salary with an additional $350,000 for media appearances, promotions, and public relations work. In addition, he receives $60,000 in fringe benefits. Since his hiring, the Buckeyes’ football program has won its first national championship since 2014. Ohio State has expressed public interest in signing Bjork to a new contract extension. While no deal has been announced, any new contract would likely include a pay raise reflecting the current market for top athletic directors, at least $2.5 million per year.
8. Scott Woodward, LSU Tigers athletic director – $1.85 million
One theme with many of the highest-paid athletic directors is that they used to hold the position at Texas A&M. Scott Woodward served as the Aggies’ athletic director until 2019, when he took over the LSU Tigers’ athletic department. In 2022, he received a four-year contract extension that raised his average annual base salary to $1.85 million. Woodward, a Baton Rouge native and an alum of Louisiana State University, can also earn bonuses for each of the Tigers’ athletic teams that have an APR of 930-plus ($75,000), an institution APR score that is in the top third of SEC programs and a bonus for a Graduation Success Rate of 88 percent or higher ($100,000), in addition to bonuses for SEC conference titles or national championships.
Related: LSU Game Today, Tigers Football Schedule 2025
9. Kirby Hocutt, Texas Tech athletic director – $1.64 million
One of the longest-tenured athletic directors on this list, Kirby Hocutt has been overseeing the Texas Tech Red Raiders’ athletic department since being hired away from the Miami Hurricanes in 2011. More than a decade after first being brought on, Hocutt received a multi-year extension in 2022 that will keep him around as Texas Tech’s AD through 2030. Hocutt’s average annual salary is $1.639 million under his current deal. He’s been instrumental in the recent influx of support from boosters in the Red Raiders’ NIL spending explosion.
10. Josh Whitman, University of Illinois athletic director – $1.5 million
While the University of Illinois might not have one of the most dominant athletics programs in major sports, Josh Whitman is currently one of the highest-paid athletic directors in the country. Hired by his alma mater in 2016, Whitman received a multi-year contract extension in 2023 that could keep him with the program through 2031. It bumped his pay to $1.5 million per year, with a second raise coming in 2028 when he starts making $1.725 million annually.
