The $451,900 that Joel Maturi earns as athletic director at Minnesota ranks eighth among the 10 Big Ten schools that release salary data, according to a college football database compiled by USA Today.
Ohio State's Gene Smith, who earns $1.059 million, and Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez, who makes $1.041 million per year, are the highest paid ADs in the conference, though their salaries lag well behind that of Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, who earns roughly $1.6 million a year, according to the paper. That pair is among five athletic directors (plus Vanderbilt vice chancellor David Williams, who also oversees several other departments) who earn more than $1 million a year; Jeremy Foley at Florida ($1.545 million) is the highest paid, followed by Tom Jurich at Louisville ($1.422 million) and DeLoss Dodds of Texas ($1.093 million).
Only Michigan State's Mark Hollis, at $395,000 annually, and Nebraska's Tom Osborne, who is paid $321,538, earn less than Maturi, who has been Minnesota's athletic director since 2002. Maturi's salary is pretty typical, however; three other ADs are within $54,000 of his compensation package.
Northwestern, a private school, and Penn State did not make their salary figures available to USA Today.
As you might expect, athletic director at a Division I school is a pretty lucrative job. None of the ADs in the database earn less than $100,000; the lowest listed is Bobby Stroud at Louisiana-Monroe, who earns $109,000.
Still, virtually all athletic directors earn less than their employees; at Minnesota, for example, Maturi's salary is far below that of basketball coach Tubby Smith ($1.8 million) and football coach Jerry Kill ($1.1 million).
The Big Ten salaries, according to USA Today:

Illinois -- Mike Thomas -- $575,000
Indiana -- Fred Glass -- $495,746
Iowa -- Gary Barta -- $456,992
Michigan -- Dave Brandon -- $700,454
Michigan State -- Mark Hollis -- $395,000
Minnesota -- Joel Maturi -- $451,900
Nebraska -- Tom Osborne -- $321,538
Northwestern -- Jim Phillips -- (NA)
Ohio State -- Gene Smith -- $1,058,546
Penn State -- Tim Curley -- (NA)
Purdue -- Morgan Burke -- $505,918
Wisconsin -- Barry Alvarez -- $1,040,800