While it likely would have taken some $3 million, or more, to lure Bob Stoops or Mike Shanahan to the University of Florida, Gators athletics director Jeremy Foley still had to come up with a reported $1 million-$1.5 million to hire Ron Zook.

	Ron Zook

Though that's a significant discount on former coach Steve Spurrier's compensation, it's still an awful lot of cash to throw around at a public institution where the average professor's salary is $68,694.

Zook can thank Spurrier, his predecessor and one-time mentor. Spurrier walked away from a $2.1 million deal, the richest in college football that is loaded with lucrative apparel and media deals.

Zook's base salary is believed to be worth between 10-20 percent of his entire compensation package. The remainder of the deal is comprised of a share of Florida's current apparel contract with Nike -- a five-year, $9 million deal that was signed prior to the 1999-2000 season -- as well as radio and television deals worth approximately $350,000 and, possibly, a series of no-interest loans that Zook can avoid repaying if he remains the Gators' coach through specified time periods, university sources said.

	Cashing in as coach
	Florida structured a compensation package that put Ron Zook on the charts with the highest paid coaches in college football:
	Coach	School	Deal
	Bob Stoops	Oklahoma	$2 million
	Mack Brown	Texas	$1.709 million
	Nick Saban	LSU	$1.6 million
	Tyrone Willingham	Notre Dame	$1.5 million*
	Bobby Bowden	Florida State	$1.5 million
	Phillip Fulmer	Tennessee	$1.5 million
	Bill Snyder	Kansas State	$1.5 million
	Ron Zook	Florida	$1.5 million
	Glen Mason	Minnesota	$1.3 million
	Barry Alvarez	Wisconsin	$1.3 million
	* Willingham's deal reported includes incentives that would top out at $2 million. Source: ESPN.com research of published reports

Zook's deal ranks behind Stoops' $2 million salary at Oklahoma, Mack Brown's $1.709 million deal at Texas and Nick Saban's $1.6 million deal at LSU. Notre Dame's Tyrone Willingham is among four other coaches who make at least $1.5 million, though it is believed Willingham's deal could go as high as $2 million with incentives. Shanahan reportedly earns a $4 million salary as head coach and general manager of the NFL's Denver Broncos.

Florida's deal with Nike perhaps gave Foley his greatest latitude and helped make Zook, a former Florida assistant under Spurrier and most recently the New Orleans Saints' defensive coordinator, among the eight highest-paid college football coaches in the country.

Since a specific coach's name is not mentioned in the Nike contract, Foley has discretion over how much of the Nike money to spend on his football coach, according to John McBride, Florida's assistant athletics director of external affairs. As much as half of Spurrier's pay came from his share of the Nike deal.

Like Spurrier, Zook likely will receive no-interest loans which would become gifts if he remains the Gators' coach for a certain number of years, said Edie Parker, director of human resources and risk management for the University Athletic Association Inc., a separately funded organization that serves as Florida's athletics department. According to published reports, Spurrier received a $175,000 loan in 1992 that he avoided repaying by remaining at Florida for the 1999 season. He also received a $125,000 loan in 1995 that became a gift when he was still coaching the Gators through the 2000 season.

Zook likely could earn more than $100,000 for speaking engagements at booster clubs events, which the UAA calls a "talent fee," Parker said. The value of an expense account, a medium-priced car and a block of tickets to Gators games also could be included in the total annual value of the contract.

Incentives have become standard inclusions in most head coaching contracts. Zook likely will earn bonuses for leading Florida to the SEC championship, a bowl game and even more for a BCS game, not to mention a national championship. Another incentive clause could be tied to the graduation rate of the football team's players.

It's a pretty cushy deal for the coaches, but sports economist Andrew Zimbalist says the pay scale for collegiate football head coaches doesn't make much financial sense for the school's athletic budget.

"The idea that a coach running a collegiate program that generates $40 (million) to $50 million is being paid the same or more than an NFL coach running a team that generates $110 million in revenue is frankly absurd," said Zimbalist, author of "Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports."

During the 1999-2000 school year, the UAA took in $53 million in gross revenues.

In an indirect way, boosters can help subsidize a new coach's salary by helping the athletic department with other costs. The total money raised by Gator Boosters Inc. -- also independent from the athletic department and the school -- from gifts and contributions tied to ticket fees -- minus the Boosters' administrative and operation costs -- are given to the UAA. Last year, more than 13,000 boosters raised a school-record $19.6 million, with about $17 million going to the UAA, said Sara Brazda, director of internal operations for Gator Boosters Inc.

Booster money given to the UAA is earmarked to pay for scholarships and facility improvements, such as the $50 million renovation of the "The Swamp," which will be completed for the 2003 season. When Spurrier took over as the Gators' coach in 1990, the boosters raised about $6.2 million, Brazda said. Donations steadily increased to $19.5 million in 1998, before it fell below $18 million for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, she said.

Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com. He can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.