Ohio State dug deep to keep AD Smith

From: DaytonDailyNews.com -

COLUMBUS — With his services in demand, Ohio State’s Gene Smith became one of the nation’s highest-paid athletic directors earlier this year.

Under terms of a contract addendum signed in June, Smith’s base pay increased more than 20 percent, to $800,000, and he is guaranteed at least $1 million a year, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

The contract could be worth more than $1.2 million a year if Smith earns various incentive bonuses for athletic and academic performance.

The deal came after several schools tried to lure the 54-year-old, who in May was named the athletic director of the year by SportsBusiness Journal.

“There were a couple other institutions throwing everything but their endowment funds at him,” OSU President E. Gordon Gee said Wednesday. “We’re blessed to have him, and we wanted to make sure we had him for an extended period.’

Gee and Smith declined to name the suitors, but several sources indicated that the University of Oregon was among them.

Because private universities do not disclose salaries, it is unknown where Smith ranks among the nation’s athletic directors in compensation. But he clearly is among a small handful, at most, to be earning seven figures.