Men’s Basketball Head Coach Scott Nagy was the highest-paid Wright State University (WSU) employee this past fiscal year, making over $30,000 more than the University President.
WSU paid its coaches $1,114,631.57 in Fiscal Year 2021, with over $750,000 of that going to Men’s and Women’s Basketball coaches.
As of this time, the university has not commented on these figures.
In a league of his own
Of the over $1.1 million in the gross salary paid to 24 WSU coaches this past fiscal year, over 27% of that went straight to the highest-paid coach.
Men’s Basketball Head Coach Scott Nagy was paid the most by far, earning $302,395.88 this past academic year, making over two and a half times more than any other coach in the athletics program.
“When we hired Scott back in 2016, we wanted to upgrade our basketball program, so we decided to pay him at the top of the league,” Athletics Director Bob Grant said. “We try to stay in the average of the Horizon League, but if we want to focus on winning, we’ll pay at the top of the league.”
Not only was Nagy the highest-paid Coach, but he was also the highest-paid employee at WSU, making over $30,000 more than President Sue Edwards and doubling the salary of Athletics Director Bob Grant.
With last season’s 18-6 record, Nagy’s salary comes down to $12,599.83 per game and $16,799.77 per win. Merriweather is paid the most per game after Nagy, but only has a third of his numbers at $3,974 per game and $5,647 per win.
As of now, we have not yet received a copy of Scott Nagy’s contract with WSU in order to present bonuses or other factors of pay.
A big focus on basketball
A majority of the total salaries went to the basketball program, with the eight coaches from both Men’s and Women’s Basketball making up over 68% of the total salaries.
Men’s and Women’s Basketball coaches were paid $762,766.22 in total gross salary, with Men’s coaches taking over $523,000 of that, about 46% of the entire pot, and Women’s coaches paid $239,533.31.
Not only are the two programs the only ones with six-digit individual salaries, but they are also the only programs with six-digit total salaries. Baseball is third in line with $90,121.23 for all of its coaches, and Volleyball after that with $67,666.69.
“Only about 15 to 20 schools in the entire NCAA actually make money on Athletics.” Grant said, “For most schools, their football coaches are paid the highest salaries, followed by basketball coaches since those programs make the most money through ticket sales. Because we don’t have football, basketball becomes the key sport.”
*The same two coaches work for Cross Country and Women’s Track
Discrimination between sports and between genders
It’s important to look at the differences between not just men’s and women’s sports, but male and female coaches too.
While the average male coach’s salary was $48,287 and the average female coach’s salary was $41,935, taking out Nagy from the male average makes it $32,404.
For men’s sports versus women’s sports, there is still quite a large disparity. The average Men’s sports coach earned $72,093.45, where the average women’s sports coach earned $37,561.35*. Taking out Nagy from this average makes it $43,755.20 for men’s sports.
“When we first hire coaches, we try to benchmark their salaries at the average for the Horizon League,” Grant said. “Because of that benchmarking, the salaries tend to be steady across the board.”
*This only calculates the salaries of coaches that work solely for one gender of teams, eliminating Cross Country/Women’s Track Coaches, and Tennis Coaches.
