LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas athletic director Jeff Long, football coach Les Miles and basketball coach Bill Self announced Monday they had taken a 10% salary reduction for the next six months in an effort to save the athletic department nearly $500,000.
The move comes as the COVID-19 pandemic is putting pressure on collegiate athletic departments nationwide to cut costs to keep afloat. Many schools have asked their highest-paid employees to take salary cuts during the pandemic, and some have taken the more aggressive step of eliminating some sports entirely.
Long’s contract includes $1.5 million in annual base salary with $200,000 covered by the university. Miles is heading into the second year of a five-year contract that pays him $2.775 million a year. Self is in the midst of a contract extension that he signed in 2012 that goes through the 2021-22 season and pays him about $4 million annually.
