Their best finish in 15 years. Nebraska finished 29th, earning their AD a $160K bonus. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin also finished in the top 30.
Wow $160 K bonus for #29 ?! And costing the university $7.5 extra million in Frosts buyout for not hanging on 3 more weeks
NU one notch behind. Wonder where the 2 of us would have ranked had Frost not tried the on side kick? ( Probably would have saved UNL the $7.5 million!)
Wonder if Stanford AD gets bonus or is #1 simply an expectation?
Harry
Since neither team earned points for football, that sport had no impact on their Learfield Cup standings.
The after-the-fact ‘conventional wisdom’ in Lincoln is that Frost’s job was teetering on the edge since the middle part of the 2021 season. And my guess is Alberts was able to raise the extra $7.5 million quickly, the big donors were fed up with Frost. His personnel moves, both on the field and on the staff roster, were a large part of that. And Frost really hated the meet-and-greet routine with donors.
I suspect the Georgia Southern loss was more impactful than the loss to Northwestern, the NU-NU series has been a back-and-forth affair since the Huskers joined the conference.
AD compensation is a complicated question. In most companies, the CEO is the highest paid employee, usually a combination of salary, benefits/perks, and stock options. Many CEOs make the bulk of their wealth from those stock options, that’s where most billionaires come from.
Athletic departments don’t have stock options, and the AD is seldom the highest paid employee, at some schools he may not even be in the top 5 in his department.
So bonuses based on specific goals, like a strong finish in the Learfield Cup, is one way to reward wide-spread success. I know the Learfield Cup bonus at Nebraska was part of the previous AD’s contract, but it never paid off. This year is the first time it has paid off for Trev Alberts.
When you look at how Northwestern’s recent ADs have moved up the ladder, Murphy being president of the Packers and Phillips running the ACC, their demonstrated abilities to manage a huge budget and produce winning teams in multiple sports is a very marketable, hence rewardable, skill.
Stanford winning the Leafield Cup this year is probably considered a return to form at the Farm.
Of course if you don’t think ANYONE is worth $1 million a year, then none of this makes any sense.
Mike Nolan
Harry,
No bonus for the Stanford AD. If they don’t win the Cup he gets fired. That’s what’s expected.
Mark
Yes that was my comment. Anything less is unacceptable