Casey Alexander: Belmont’s Highest Paid Employee In 2024
- Georgina America and Zach Watkins
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Former men’s head basketball coach Casey Alexander was the university’s highest-paid employee in 2024 with a salary of nearly $1.59 million, according to Belmont’s tax filing, which was made available on Wednesday.
“Belmont aims to provide competitive compensation for every employee, providing salaries in line with market rates for a given role,” said April Hefner, associate vice president of marketing and communications at Belmont.
Every year, tax-exempt organizations are required to file the Form 990 which details assets, revenue and expenditures. The document is considered a public document. The Vision received the 66-page 2024 form on April 15, Tax Day.
It covers the 2024 fiscal year – June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2025.
The document showed that the only employee other than President Greg Jones to make more than $1 million was Alexander, who made more than $1.5 million. This was an increase of $425,039 from the previous year.
Hefner said the increase was due to “deferred compensation, with his payout in 2024.”
Deferred compensation is a type of benefit plan which allows employees to postpone a portion of their income until a later date, which reduces their taxable income.
Executive Vice President for University Advancement David Rosselli and Dean of Curb College Brittany Schaffer received the next highest changes in pay out of Belmont’s top 10 earners from 2024.
Rosselli’s pay rose from $341,667 to $669,524, which is an increase of $327,857. Schaffer’s rose from $370,753 to $519,371; an increase of $148,618. However, Rosselli and Schaffer’s salary changes look higher because they were both hired in mid-2023 and therefore did not receive a full salary for that year. Their first full salary appeared on the fiscal year 2024 Form 990.
Salaries are the only item that goes by calendar year and not fiscal year in the Form 990.
The Form 990 shows a pay gap of hundreds of thousands of dollars between Alexander and the other top earners.
“Annual merit increases to compensation are given and are primarily based upon an employee’s performance and achievement of stated goals for the year,” said Hefner. The Vision was told no one was available to discuss the document.
The highest-paid employees listed in the Form 990 are:
Alexander made contributions to the university in fostering a conference-winning championship team, but for some students the pay was still too much.
“I don’t think that just because he’s a coach means he should be paid the highest,” said sophomore Lola Collins.
Senior Alex Norton is a dedicated follower of the men’s basketball team and said that Alexander’s pay in 2024 is warranted due to the success he had with the men’s basketball team.
“I’m OK with the basketball coach making a million dollars. I think that seems about right for a Division 1 basketball team that hasn’t had a losing season while he’s been here,” Norton said.
Despite being the highest paid at Belmont, Alexander left Belmont for Kansas State University, where his salary will increase to $3.4 million.
When comparing salaries of the men’s basketball coach to women’s, there is over a $1.1 million difference.
There is an even larger difference between the salaries of employees listed in the Form 990 and Belmont faculty.
“Average Belmont University faculty salaries hover around $92,000 annually as of recent years,” says academicjobs.com, a website that aggregates employers and hiring data from universities across the world. These numbers are from 2022-2023.
The Form 990 also reveals insights into the revenue streams of Belmont.
Below is Belmont’s total revenue, some segmented revenues, and revenue from tuition from the fiscal years 2020 to 2024.
The 990 form is publicly accessible here.
Written by Georgina America and Zach Watkins
Comments