Ferentz Again Ranks Top in State Salaries

By Erin Jordan, Reporter

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz stands on the sideline during the second half of their college football game against Penn State Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

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By Ellen Kurt

Story Created: Nov 1, 2012 at 8:03 AM CDT

Story Updated: Nov 1, 2012 at 5:34 PM CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Head football and men’s basketball coaches at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University claimed the top spots of highest-paid state employees for last year.

UI Head Football Coach Kirk Ferentz was paid $3.725 million for the year that ended June 30, which is seven times the $492,000 salary of his boss, UI President Sally Mason. But don’t feel too bad for Mason; Ferentz takes home 27 times Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s $135,000 salary and 80 times the $47,450 median salary of nearly 60,000 state employees.

The state salary database, released Thursday by Iowa’s Department of Administrative Services, includes employees in all branches of state government. Employees at Iowa’s public universities and the schools for the deaf and blind make up two-thirds of the list.

Coaches and doctors are always the top earners, with many of the largest salaries being paid in part with private money.

After Ferentz, ISU Head Football Coach Paul Rhoads was paid $1.425 million last year. ISU Head Men’s Basketball Coach Fred Hoiberg was paid $908,532, jumping over UI Men’s Basketball Coach Fran McCaffery, who was paid $872,169 and had been ranked No. 3 the previous year.

Former UI Men's Basketball Coach Todd Lickliter made the top 10 salary list for the last time with $858,334. Lickliter was fired in March 2010, but the UI has been paying off his contract for the past three years. The final payment was in June 2012.

The first non-university employee in the state salary database – coming in at 163 – is Som Lerd, a physician supervisor for the Department of Human Services. She was paid $323,268.

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