Board of Regents approves contract extension for Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents on Thursday approved a two-year contract extension for athletic director Mark Coyle. The new contract will run through June of 2030 and include an annual raise of $324,000, giving him an average annual salary of $1.4 million.

Coyle, 55, has been with Minnesota since May 2016 and ranks fourth among the 14 Big Ten athletic directors in longevity at their school. His new contract will be comparable with what Nebraska’s Trev Alberts and Illinois’ Josh Whitman make under agreements reached in November.

Jeff Ettinger, the university’s interim president, gave a presentation to the committee in support of Coyle, pointing to athletic success that included two conference titles last year and a finish of 31st nationally in the Learfield Directors Cup, which measures a department’s all-around athletic performance. Ettinger emphasized the work in the classroom by the Gophers, which included a 95% Graduation Success Rate, 318 academic All-Big Ten selections (most in the conference) in the past school year and nine academic All-America honorees (tied for fifth most in the nation).

The board’s Finance & Operations Committee approved the contract on a voice vote after it was separated from the other consent report items on the agenda. There were two “no” votes, from regents James Farnsworth and Robyn Gulley, both of whom praised Coyle for his performance but couldn’t support the contract because of general objections to large contracts in college athletics.

Regent Douglas Huebsch spoke in favor of Coyle’s contract. “He’s taken our athletic department to a whole new level,” Huebsch said. “He’d be a huge hole to fill if we had to replace him.”

The committee also approved the contract of new football defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, who received a two-year deal with an annual compensation of $850,000.