University Times

Coach's salary topped chancellor's in FY99, according to IRS form

As Pitt head football coach, Walt Harris received $289,602 in salary, $17,644 in University contributions to his employee benefit plans, and $11,142 for expenses and other allowances during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1999, according to an IRS form that Pitt filed this month.

In salary — but not in total compensation — Harris outearned Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, who received $280,600 in salary (including a $30,000 incentive bonus); $36,044 in Pitt contributions to benefit plans; $4,665 in expenses and allowances; and $5,884 in educational benefits.

"This is an incredibly exciting time to be a member of the University of Pittsburgh family and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it," Harris said in a written statement. "Our program appreciates the support and commitment it has been given and we are working hard every day to build a championship football program the University can be proud of."

Ken Service, director of Pitt's Office of News & Information, noted that "it's hardly unusual" for a head football coach at an NCAA Division IA school such as Pitt to earn more than the institution's top executives.

"It would be interesting to see how Joe Paterno's salary compares with [Penn State president] Graham Spanier's," Service said.

Penn State, however, refuses to disclose its legendary football coach's compensation. And because PSU claims a different federal tax-exempt status from Pitt's, it does not file the same IRS form in which Pitt was forced to reveal Harris's pay.

Harris received a higher compensation package than any Pitt administrative officer except the chancellor and Arthur S. Levine, who began work here in November 1998 as senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the medical school.

During the last seven months of the 1998-99 fiscal year, Levine received $332,400 in salary, $33,492 in Pitt contributions to employee benefit plan, and $1,922 for expenses and other allowances.

Levine's current salary is $515,000. Nordenberg's base salary is $265,000, and Pitt trustees will likely award him another bonus next fall if they approve of his job performance.

In March, Pitt extended Coach Harris's contract through the fall 2006 football season. "It's safe to assume he got a raise," said E. J. Borghetti, media relations director for the athletics department, although Pitt won't reveal Harris's current compensation.

Pitt does not voluntarily release salary and benefits information for individual employees except senior officers whose pay is set by the Board of Trustees compensation committee.

The compensation of Harris and four other non-officers is available because the IRS Form 990, a public document, requires tax-exempt, private corporations such as Pitt to reveal compensation figures for their officers as well as their five highest-paid non-officer employees.

In addition to Harris, those Pitt non-officer employees last year included: Ronald B. Herberman, professor of medicine/pathology and associate vice chancellor for Health Sciences — $398,935 in salary and $35,445 in benefits.

Massimo M. Trucco, professor of pediatrics — $305,025 in salary and $28,509 in benefits.

Robert A. Branch, professor of medicine and pharmacology — $269,425 in salary and $15,369 in benefits.

Gordon J. Vanscoy, assistant dean and associate professor in the pharmacy school — $261,892 in salary and $25,388 in benefits. Only 20 percent of Vanscoy's compensation came from pharmacy school funds, according to Pitt's Financial Information Systems office. The remaining 80 percent was paid by a specialty care pharmacy, which bought Vanscoy's time from the school to help build their clinical pharmacy programs.

The IRS Form 990 is limited to salaries, benefits and allowances processed through the Pitt payroll system. So, for example, it does not include income that Health Sciences faculty earn for clinical work through the UPMC Health System. Other medical school professors may have earned much higher total salaries than the Pitt compensation paid to Herberman, Trucco, Branch and Vanscoy.

It's also possible that Coach Harris, even with his contract extension, is no longer the athletics department's highest-paid employee. Last fall, the contract of Athletics Director Steve Pederson also was extended. Pitt has not disclosed details of Pederson's contract, except to call last fall's extension "competitive" in terms of compensation and duration.

— Bruce Steele