New AD will make more than Robinson

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 9:57 a.m.

Whoever lands the UNLV athletic director job later this month will come at a much higher price than the previous Rebels AD.

All three finalists -- Montana's Wayne Hogan, East Carolina's Mike Hamrick and Idaho's Mike Bohn -- already earn salaries that are higher than the one John Robinson received for his AD duties the past 18 months.

As part of his two-for-one job benefits at UNLV, Robinson earned just an extra $75,000 for being athletic director as well as head football coach at UNLV last year.

He was to earn an additional $100,000 this year before resigning in May, and $125,000 in both 2004 and 2005. That compensation was on top of the approximately $500,000 he is paid as football coach.

Still, that was a bargain compared to previous Rebels AD Charles Cavagnaro, who earned $148,000 in base salary and also had the use of two cars and a country club membership before "retiring" in late 2001.

Of the three finalists for the UNLV job, Hamrick comes with the highest price tag.

Hamrick, the athletic director at East Carolina, earns a base salary of $180,000 on a contract that runs through May 31, 2005 and includes performance incentives. He received a big pay boost in February 2002 after he was a finalist for the Kansas athletic director position.

Bohn also hauls in an impressive salary compared to UNLV standards. His contract that runs through June 24, 2005 has a base salary of $145,017 per year and includes another $5,000 a year for public appearances.

Hogan, who may be the front-runner for the job based on his impressive two-day interview at UNLV this week, earns a base salary of $106,000 at Montana.

Andy Fry, who chairs UNLV's athletic director search and selection committee, said he was unaware of what kind of salary package the new Rebels AD would receive.

"I haven't been part of that discussion," Fry said. "That's between the president (Dr. Carol Harter) and the candidates to work out. I'm sure it will be competitive. But I don't know the numbers or even the range it would be."

Harter could not be reached for comment.

"She's out of the country for the rest of the week," said UNLV spokesman Tom Flagg.