UW System Coaches Receiving Raises Despite Salary Freeze

UW System Coaches Receiving Raises Despite Salary Freeze

Published June 9, 2003

The MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL’s Mark Stewart reports that Univ. of WI (UW) football coach Barry Alvarez, UW men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan and Univ. of WI-Milwaukee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl will receive “substantial pay increases in the coming year despite an anticipated cut of $250[M] in the UW System budget,” including a salary increase freeze.  The UW athletic department, which approved a $58.8M budget for the ’03-04 season, “enjoyed a surplus of more than $400,000 for the 2002-03 fiscal year and has a reserve of $6[M].”  Both Ryan and Alvarez will receive the additional pay “from sources outside the athletic department.”  Pearl’s raise won’t be affected by the salary freeze “because of a state provision that allows for raises in order to put an individual’s salary in line with his or her peers” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL, 5/29).