Public Records Request: How much do Ohio University's top leaders earn?

Later when I attended the university, I was active in student government, a varsity athlete, newspaper editor and participated in many activities while I was earning bachelors and masters degrees. I enjoyed being in the company of scholars and embracing school spirit.

University life is like living in a small town in eastern North Carolina — everyone knows everyone and there is a strong sense of community, which is why my family has always tended to live in college towns. Due to my commitment to higher education, I’ve learned how a university works — what makes the bureaucracy tick. I’ve had good teachers and mentors over the years, both Sith and Jedi masters alike to show me how “this is the way.”

Covering a university is as important as coverage of a small town. If you don’t pay attention, then things tend to go unnoticed until they get “noticed” when people’s ear perk up and they start attending city council or faculty senate meetings to make speeches.

For example, this story about salaries is important not only because it sheds a light on what top administrators are earning, but how a university answers a public records request says a lot about the leadership and transparency — and there has been a changing of the guard this year so this is a test case.

The idea for this salary story was inspired by stories from the Athens News’ golden age. And as such, I’ve reported on city and county salaries for public officials.

Last year when I reported on who was paid the top salaries paid at Ohio University, that information was provided in a reasonable time frame.

This year, that information was slow in coming. Part of that was my fault. Perhaps I didn’t ask the right questions and certainly I’ve been on vacation, albeit a working vacation, from time to time which shifted my priorities and kicked the can down the road until the new school year began in the fall so much so that I got back to the plow Aug. 29 and filed a more specific public records seeking salary information for specific OU leaders.

On OU’s end, people were out of town — same as me — and the request for information seems to have dragged on a bit longer, but that’s OK. University answered the Athens News’ questions and provided the information requested.

After sending an email Aug. 29, OU responded, “This email serves to acknowledge this office’s receipt of your Public Records Request dated August 31, 2023. Your request is being reviewed by this office and we will strive to produce records that are responsive to your request within a reasonable amount of time. The response time is dependent upon the clarity of the request and whether we have a legal obligation to redact information that is protected by state or federal law.”

Sept. 13, “Thank you for your email and inquiry. We are working on your request and anticipate forwarding our response to you at our very earliest opportunity. Our response time is dependent upon the number of requests in our queue. Thank you in advance for your patience.”

Sept. 19, I received the information requested from the Office of Legal Affairs, but there were follow-up questions that dragged the process out a bit further.

On Sept. 29, Dan Pittman, Senior Director of Communications for OU, emailed the answers to those questions so I could put together a story for the weekend edition of the Athens Messenger.

Since I had the weekend to work on this story, I had time to provide more details for an expanded version of this story for the Athens News.

Ohio University Board of Trustees approved a 2% raise pool in May for employees during the 2023-24 fiscal year — same as last year. A link included in the online version of this story includes a data base showing compensation data that includes all non-student employees’ base salary as of Dec. 31, 2022.

Jeff Boals, who enters his fifth season as head coach of the men’s basketball program in 2023-24, is the highest-paid employee at Ohio University with a salary of around $696,000 per year.

His compensation package breaks down to $595,583 base salary plus an additional $100,000 annual compensation — a total of around $696,000.

The source of funding for Boals’ salary is Intercollegiate Athletics Auxiliaries, which comes from within the OU budget.

Last season, the Bobcats compiled a 19-14 record. The team won seven out of their last nine regular season games to head into the MAC tournament at 18—13 as the fifth seed with a 10-8 conference record. They defeated Ball State in the first round of the MAC tournament before losing to top-seeded Toledo.

Between 2022-23, Boals was paid $692,000, according to OU’s compensation and pay database.

According to her employment agreement, OU President Lori Stewart Gonzalez will make $600,000 in base salary a year. The six-year contract can be extended to two additional two-year terms if both the Board of Trustees and Gonzalez agree.

In July of each year, Gonzalez will be eligible for a performance bonus of up to 15% of her base salary in effect during the previous contract year. In July 2024, that bonus would be up to $90,000. According to the contract, the Board of Trustees will determine the amount of the bonus, which will be contingent on the university achieving mutually agreed upon, predefined goals and the “availability of funds.”

In comparison to other university presidents in the Mid-American Conference, the highest annual base salary was University of Buffalo with $721,130, according to a study from Eastern Michigan University released in December 2022. Miami University’s president had a base salary of $551,665, while the University of Toledo president’s base salary was $520,200. The lowest base salary was the Central Michigan University president with $450,000.

Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Sayrs’ salary is $386,325 for fiscal year 2023-24. Her salary for this fiscal year, FY 22-23, was $378,750.

OU data base says the current base salary for OU’s head football coach Tim Albin is $603,000. As with Boals, the source of funding for his salary comes from Intercollegiate Athletics Auxiliaries, a department of OU.

The 2022 football team finished the season as MAC East (7-1) and Arizona Bowl Champions with a 10-4 record, marking its first 10-win season since 2011 and the second-best turnaround in FBS football last year. The Bobcats were undefeated at home, posting a 6-0 record on Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium, and wrapped up the regular season with a seven-game winning streak. So far this season, the Bobcats are 4-1.

To be candid, Boals’ and Albin’s salaries are nowhere near the highest paid to Division 1 coaches, probably somewhere near the middle instead.

OU Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine Executive Dean and Chief Medical Affairs Officer Kenneth Johnson is paid $435,540.

Johnson was paid $610,000 for fiscal year 2022-23 fiscal year, according to OU. Pittman said that figure appears to include additional compensation that Johnson received beyond his base salary. The university’s salary database lists Johnson’s base salary for last year (22-23) at $427,000, and the 23-24 salary as $435,540. Pittman said this salary information, which was provided by OU’s Office of Legal Affairs, is the most recent base salary information available.

Former Ohio University President Hugh Sherman will be paid $314,637 for 2023-24. He will retire from the university at the end of the academic year. During the 2022-23 school year, Sherman was paid $498,780 when he served as president.

Sherman concluded his two-year term as OU’s 22nd president at the end of June. He is currently on a 12-month sabbatical; thereafter, he plans to return to tenured faculty member status within the College of Business, Pittman said.

Former OU President Duane Nellis will be paid $274,699 for 2023-24. After a brief sabbatical after Nellis stepped down as president in June 2021, he returned to the classroom as a tenured professor in the Geography Department in January 2022, where he remains an active tenured professor, making him the highest paid geography professor in the department.

Nellis was paid $662,248 before he stepped down in 2021, according to OU. During fiscal year 2022, Nellis provided transition support to the Office of the President and Board of Trustees and also provided public donor and public relation support as well as teaching and lecturing as a Trustee Professor of Geography.

The university shared the following update regarding the FY24 raise pool (two percent) in mid-May: FY24 salary increases and upcoming bonus (ohio.edu).

OU’s online salary data base shows compensation data that includes all non-student employees’ base salary as of Dec. 31, 2022. This database is updated annually in the spring.

According to a press release from OU issued in the spring, the university ended another year with a budget surplus for 2022-23.

“We are thrilled to be wrapping up yet another year with a budget surplus, and once again we are prioritizing our faculty and staff through a one-time bonus,” former OU President Hugh Sherman and Mark Heil Vice President for Finance and Administration and CFO wrote in the press release.

OU awarded a bonus of up to $2,000 to all benefits-eligible employees hired prior to Jan. 1, 2023 who meet the eligibility criteria.

In addition, faculty and administrative staff hired before Jan. 1, 2023 will be eligible for an FY24 salary increase, based on merit, the press release said. Divisions have been instructed to allocate budget equaling two percent of salary for all eligible employees to fund merit-based raises. Individual salary increases for eligible employees will be a minimum of 0.5% and a maximum of 5%.

The final percentage increase will be determined at the unit level and tied to the individual’s performance evaluation. Members of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) 3200, AFSCME 1699, FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) Police Officers and FOP Police Lieutenants will receive a 2% salary increase as outlined in their collective bargaining agreements.