Badgers got bang for their buck with coach Greg Gard

MADISON - Based on his relatively modest pay among Big Ten men's basketball coaches, Greg Gard provided Wisconsin with a high rate of return this past season.

Consider that his total compensation package of $1,753,445 for the 2016-'17 season was 10th among the 13 Big Ten schools that provided data to USA Today for its annual study of college basketball coaches salaries. Penn State, as a quasi-private institution, was the lone Big Ten school that did not provide compensation figures.

Yet, UW finished second in the Big Ten during the regular season, reached the conference tournament title game and was one of three league teams to reach the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.

The others were Purdue, which won the regular-season title; and Michigan, which was seeded No. 8 in the Big Ten tournament and defeated UW in the title game.

Michigan’s John Beilein ranked third in the league in annual compensation at $3,370,000.

Purdue’s Matt Painter ranked sixth at $2,403,795.

The Badgers were seeded No. 8 in the East Regional and upset No. 1 Villanova to reach the Sweet 16 before losing in overtime to No. 4 Florida.

Purdue received the Big Ten’s highest seeding, No. 4 in the Midwest. The Boilermakers held on to defeat No. 5 Iowa State in the second round in Milwaukee before getting routed by No. 1 Kansas, 96-66, in the Sweet 16.

Michigan was seeded No. 7 in the Midwest and upset No. 2 Louisville in the second round before falling by a point to third-seeded Oregon in the Sweet 16.

Michigan State’s Tom Izzo topped the league’s coaches at $4,251,751. The freshmen-led Spartans were seeded fifth in the Big Ten tournament and went 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament. They were outclassed by Kansas, 90-70, in the second round.

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This past season showed again that big salaries don’t always lead to big victories.

Ohio State’s Thad Matta ($3,552,000) and Indiana’s Tom Crean ($3,232,962) were second and fourth, respectively, in the Big Ten in annual compensation.

Neither the Buckeyes nor the Hoosiers made the NCAA field.

Matta received a vote of confidence from athletic director Gene Smith despite missing the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season and is set to return for his 14th season with the Buckeyes.

Crean received a pink slip from athletic director Fred Glass and is still looking for work.

Three other coaches who were paid more than Gard – ranking Nos. 7, 8 and 9 in the league – failed to guide their teams to the NCAA Tournament: John Groce of Illinois ($2,205,000), Tim Miles of Nebraska ($2,125,080) and Fran McCaffery of Iowa ($2,054,625).

Groce, like Crean at Indiana, was fired. The Illini hired Brad Underwood, who spent just one season at Oklahoma State.

Two coaches paid less than Gard also guided their teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Richard Pitino ($1,678,812), the Big Ten coach of the year, led Minnesota to a fourth-place finish in the league and a No. 5 seeding in the NCAA South Regional. The Gophers were seeded too high, however, and suffered an 81-72 loss to No. 12 Middle Tennessee State in Milwaukee.

Northwestern’s Chris Collins ($1,340,664) guided the Wildcats to their first-ever NCAA berth. They were seeded No. 8 in the West Regional and edged No. 9 Vanderbilt by two points before falling to No. 1 Gonzaga in the second round.

The only other Big Ten coach paid less than Gard, without knowing the compensation at Penn State, was Rutgers' Steve Pikiell ($1,400,000).

Gard, 46, was hired last spring before the Big Ten tournament to replace Bo Ryan and given a five-year contract. UW reviews coaches' contracts annually and typically adds another year. Gard's compensation is set to go up $50,000 each year unless a new deal is written. His contract also allows for annual incentive bonuses of up to $400,000.

Ryan's annual compensation package in his final full season was $2,946,000, reportedly then the No. 4 mark among Big Ten coaches. He stepped down as coach in December 2015 after 14-plus years at UW. Gard was given the interim job until being hired as head coach in March 2016.

Marquette's Steve Wojciechowski

Since they are all private institutions, the members of the Big East are exempt from open-records disclosure. However, they do fill out a form for organizations that are exempt from income taxes.

The latest information available from those forms is from filings for the 2014 fiscal year. Marquette's filing, which includes dates from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, includes a payment amount of $1,224,030 for Golden Eagles men’s basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski, who was hired on April 1, 2014. That amount, which represented the highest compensation for any Marquette employee listed on that year’s form, does not include bonuses or pay from outside the university or affiliated organizations.

Among the seven Big East coaches who were in their positions in 2014, Wojciechowski’s salary ranked sixth, though he was the only first-year head coach in that group. Butler’s Chris Holtmann was an assistant coach during that year and St. John’s Chris Mullin and DePaul’s Dave Leitao were not at those schools and thus their information was not included.

Georgetown's John Thompson III ($3,671,620) was the highest paid at the time in the Big East, followed by Villanova's Jay Wright ($2,540,958).

Wojciechowski originally signed a six-year contract at Marquette. In December 2015, he and the university agreed on a two-year contract extension, making him head coach through the 2021-’22 season.

UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay

UWM hired former Michigan assistant LaVall Jordan last April to replace Rob Jeter, who was fired. Jordan's five-year contract includes a base annual salary of $350,000, with the opportunity for bonuses totaling as much as $30,000. Jeter's salary when he left was $452,130.

UWGB head coach Linc Darner's base salary is $230,000, not including various incentive bonuses ranging from $1,500 for being named Horizon League or national coach of the year to $10,000 for making the NCAA Tournament and $50,000 for making the Final Four.