MAC ON SPORTS: ILLINOIS CUTS AD, COACHES SALARIES
J. Thomas McNamara
In response to the budget problems caused by COVID-19, the Illinois athletic department is the latest Big Ten university to announced salary cuts for Athletic Director Josh Whitman and football coach Lovie Smith and basketball coach Brad Underwood.
Each of the three is taking voluntarily 10 percent pay cuts.
DIA spokesman Kent Brown said, “the 10 percent is based on their annual salaries.” They also won’t include end-of-year performance incentives.
Smith, who is the University’s top-paid employee with an annual salary of $4 million, will lose $200,000. Underwood, who is number two on the highest-paid list at $3.4 million, will see a reduction of $170,000. Whitman’s reduction will be $38,700.
I will have more on this developing story in a future print edition of the Decatur Tribune.
