As the NCAA and NACUBO collect more concise and comparable data on athletics operating budgets, another key stakeholder group is contributing salary information that will be valuable as well.

The Division 1A Athletics Directors’ Association is surveying all Division I institutions about athletics department compensation, using an approach it has deployed with its own constituency for the last decade.

The survey used for institutions that sponsor football at the Bowl Subdivision level has garnered almost a 100 percent participation rate and has become what 1A ADA Executive Director Dutch Baughman says is the "primary compensation reference for Division I-A schools." Now the organization has agreed to expand its research to include all Division I institutions.

The survey solicits compensation information for all athletics personnel. The data collected are then compiled in various tabs, including a composite summary of every position displayed by high, low and average on a national view, as well as by each conference. Other compilations include a high-to-low ranking of all positions, displayed by annual base and total guaranteed compensation, and a national summary for all positions broken down by quartile index and average.

To ensure confidentiality, no portion of the final report displays an individual’s name or school directly with a specific level of compensation.

Baughman sent the survey in early December and asked for a January 31 return. Surveys in subsequent years will be distributed in mid-August. He said the incentive for completing the survey is that the data routinely help with decision-making. Schools that don’t complete the survey aren’t sent final reports.

"We do about 40 custom sorts of the basic data, whereby an athletics director or university president will ask for specific compensation information," he said. "Most ADs will use the report to know their relative position on a national and conference basis for the positions in their department. They also use the data to know the marketplace values for each of those positions. The data are helpful when hiring a new person, or when renegotiating an existing contract."

Because the current questionnaire is based on the needs and requests from Football Bowl Subdivision schools, Baughman said subsequent surveys to Football Championship Subdivision institutions and Division I members without football may be modified based on feedback from those schools.

"After this first year, we will modify the survey to accommodate the specific positions the I-AA and I-AAA schools prefer to consider," Baughman said.