The Arizona Board of Regents' Finance, Capital and Resources Committee will decide Thursday whether to recommend a two-year contract extension and raise for UA athletic director Dave Heeke.
Should the committee recommend the raise and extension, the Regents would then vote to approve it during their April 6-8 meetings.
Heeke, 58, is currently under contract through March 2023. The new deal would extend his contract through March 2025 while boosting his base salary. Under the proposed extension, he would make $875,000 annually starting next month — a $95,000 increase over what he is scheduled to earn in his present deal. Heeke’s base pay would rise to $885,000 in 2023-24 and $895,000 in 2024-25.
Heeke will continue to receive a $100,000 annual retention bonus for staying at the UA. Heeke can leave in the final year of his deal without owing the UA any buyout money, a change from past deals. Heeke would owe $200,000 if he left before April 1, 2024, though UA president Robert C. Robbins can waive the buyout should he choose.
Heeke will continue to earn bonuses based on athletic and academic achievement. Last year, the Wildcats’ AD received $147,126.43 in total bonuses. He was paid $118,007.66 in various bonuses after Arizona’s women’s basketball team made the Final Four, the baseball and softball teams made the College World Series, and the women’s golf team finished in the top eight nationally.
He also received $29,118.77 because Arizona’s women student-athletes had a higher cumulative GPA (3.48) than that of the general women’s student body (3.23).
Heeke will also continue to receive other perks of the job: Access to two cars, season tickets to all the Wildcats’ major sporting events, seats on the football and basketball teams’ charter jets, and a country club membership.
In asking to extend Heeke’s contract, the UA praised his ability to hire and retain top coaches, mentioning Adia Barnes, Tommy Lloyd and others by name; noted the Wildcats’ success on the field and in the Olympics; and pointed to UA athletes’ record 3.172 GPA in Spring 2021.
The UA hired Heeke away from Central Michigan five years ago to replace Greg Byrne, who left for a similar job at Alabama. Heeke had spent 11 years at CMU after spending 18 in various capacities at Oregon.
