After the story broke on Pam Borton getting a new, $2.67-million six-year contract, which in effect extends her old contract by three years, I started checking the contracts of other Big Ten coaches.

Sounds like an easy task, but it wasn’t. Contract details often seem to be sketchy or incomplete for Big Ten women’s basketball coaches.

Here’s what I found on the web:

Ohio State’s Jim Foster is the highest paid. He made $649,400 in 2006-07 and has a contract through 2014-15 which maxs out at $924,400 in his last season. These figures do not include incentives or bonuses.

The Buckeyes were Big Ten co-champions last season with Iowa at 13-5.

Next is probably Joe McKeown, the first-year coach at  Northwestern.  The ‘Cats, according to one report, gave him a long and lucrative contract to leave George Washington where he led 15 teams into the NCAA tournament in 19 years. He has won more than 500 games. He was hired in June. NW, which is Evanston, Ill., does not have to provide contract details because it is a private university.

Lisa Bluder of Iowa signed a two-year contract extension in late August which will keep her with the Hawkeyes through 2012-13. She will earn a guaranteed $405,000 this year, the same as Pam Borton.

So Bluder and Borton are tied for third – or very close — in coaching salaries in the Big Ten. Bluder has a $360,00 base salary and $45,000 for camps and media.

Borton’s base salary this season is $285,000 with $120,000 more — to reach $405,000 — coming from supplemental and media compensation. Her salary will increase each year through the 2013-14 season. Bluder’s probably will, too.

The 2008-09 season will be Bluder’s ninth at Iowa, and Borton’s seventh. The Gophers tied for third place in the conference last season with Purdue at 11-7.

Jolette Law of Illinois and Kevin Borseth of Michigan are both making $300,00 per year. Law, who will be starting her second season, has a contract running through the 2011-12 season with a $150,000 base salary.

Borseth, hired in April of 2007, has a six-year contract (thru 2012-13) with a base salary of $170,000.   

At Wisconsin, Lisa Stone will be starting her sixth season. Her contract runs through the 2010-11 season and pays her $288,205 with outside income. The University of Wisconsin athletic board renewed her contract in May but declined to extend it one year. So she is on the hot seat. Better deliver soon.

Suzy Merchant, who will be starting her second year at Michigan State, has a $225,000 base salary. Felisha Legette-Jack of Indiana may be the lowest paid coach. She will be in the third year of a five-year contract calling for at least $200,00 per year. Her base salary is $175,000.

I could not find anything on the salary of second-year coach Coquese Washington at Penn State. But she was hired without any head coaching experience, so it’s doubtful her salary is in the top half of the conference.

Washington coached at Notre Dame for eight years and was the Irish’s associate head coach the last two seasons before taking over the Nittany Lions.  

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under Gophers women's basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.