I-Team Payroll Project: UC’s highest paid employees

The University of Cincinnati’s athletic director and basketball and football coaches were together paid more last year than the school’s 10 top academics and administrators combined.

The school’s top paid employee last year was head basketball coach Mick Cronin, who grossed $2.25 million. His pay along with head football coach Tommy Tuberville and athletics director Michael Bohn totaled more than $5 million.

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UC’s highest paid administrator, by contrast, was Beverly Davenport, who served as interim university president from July 2016 to February 2017 and was paid $686,740 last year. The 10 highest-paid non-sports administrators — including Davenport — made $4.5 million, barely more than the combined pay for Cronin and Tuberville alone.

Former UC president Santa Ono, who left mid-year to become president and vice chancellor of the University of British Columbia, was paid $427,517 last year, including seperation payments he cashed out upon leaving.

An I-Team investigation found public employees’ ability to cash out unused sick and vacation leave is a rare perk in the private sector, and collectively costs state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars.

SPECIAL REPORT: Taxpayers on hook for $444M in unused state worker leave

UC was one of several Ohio public universities to see a decline in fiscal health last year, according to a rating the state uses that calculates factors such as debt and reserves.

This score is used to determine whether a school will be placed on "fiscal watch," a designation Central State University is climbing out of and Wright State University may be headed toward.

The 10 highest paid UC employees last year were:

1. Mick Cronin, head men’s basketball coach: $2,253,331

2. Tommy Tuberville, head football coach: $2,185,479

3. Beverly Davenport, interim president: $686,740

4. Michael Bohn, athletics director: $577,339

5. David Szymanski, College of Business dean: $548,764

6. Ronald Sacher, professor in college of medicine: $540,059

7. William Ball, professor – emeritus, college of medicine: $505,469

8. Shuk-Mei Ho, director in college of medicine: $497,186

9. Karl Scheer, chief investment officer: $495,804

10. Zachary Taylor, assitant football coach: $485,249

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