Despite calling the shots, the presidents of local public colleges and universities are often not the highest-paid people at their school.

In some cases, the top slot falls to a sports coach. Miami University ice hockey coach Enrico Blasi last year took home $495,916. That’s $114,035 more than university President David Hodge.

“We’d never keep the national coach of the year at Miami without a healthy salary,” said Donald Crain, chairman of the Miami University Board of Trustees.

The RedHawks have become one of the top-ranked NCAA hockey teams under Blasi’s leadership.

Crain said half of Blasi’s pay comes from gifts to the university, largely from former players. “Without that kind of support, we wouldn’t have the kind of program that we have,” he said.

The Ohio State University President Gordon Gee — the highest paid public college president in the country — took in less in wages last year than the school gave in bonuses to former football coach Jim Tressel, according to the database.

Tressel took in nearly $3.5 million in compensation last year, including a $1.6 million bonus. Second highest-paid at OSU is men’s basketball coach Thad Matta, with nearly $2.2 million take-home.

Ohio State’s new coach, Luke Fickell, has a base pay of $775,000. Tressel’s base pay last year was $627,000 plus a of raft of perks.

With $1.1 million in pay, Gee is ranked fifth, after the medical center CEO and chief investment officer.

Miami’s Hopkins also falls behind Roger Jenkins, dean of the university’s business school, on the pay scale.

But the president holds the top of the payroll at Wright State, Clark State, Central State and Sinclair — by more than $80,000 at each school.

All of the college and university presidents’ salaries were higher in 2010 than then-Gov. Ted Strickland’s $138,758 base pay, as were more than 1,000 faculty and staff members at area schools.

OSU alone had 998 people on the payroll with higher base salaries than the governor.