In about four weeks, Danny White will get a contract extension at the University of Tennessee for his role as athletics director.
He'll be signed onto the top post on Rocky Top for a six-year term, one that rolls forward every year on July 31 as part of the renegotiated pact that White inked last summer.
Now, as the Knoxville News Sentinel first reported, White has emerged from the tattered mess that Phillip Fulmer and Jeremy Pruitt left behind to become college athletics' highest-paid athletics director -- at least among public institutions who are required to disclose employees' salaries.
After receiving a 20-percent bump in base salary a year ago, from $2.2 million to $2.75, White also saw Tennessee athletics excel across a number of sports -- and that, in turn, generated the magic number in White's incentives compensation: $600,000 in bonus bucks. In total, White made $3.35 million.
One of the most significant elements to White's bonus structure -- the Learfield Director's Cup for overall athletics success across all sports -- was just finalized in the past couple of weeks. Tennessee finished No. 6 in the nation -- second in the SEC and less than 200 points behind Cup winner Texas.
Once UT clinched the top-10 finish, White clinched a nine percent bonus of his base salary -- a $247,500 jackpot that accounted for almost half of White's bonus compensation.
Additionally, Tennessee's at-large berth in last year's first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff netted White an extra three percent on his base income, or $82,500 for the Vols' opening-round loss at eventual national champion Ohio State.
White's second contract amendment that he inked with Tennessee in November 2022 had specified White would receive an automatic five-percent pay increase each year on the July 31 rollover term. He also receives 10 courtesy flights per year on UT's jet.
FootballScoop reviewed White's entire contract via its pubic availability.