Western Michigan's AD gets new contract, doubles salary ― and has huge buyout clause
Tony Paul
The Detroit News
Western Michigan really doesn't want athletic director Dan Bartholomae going anywhere, at least not anytime soon.
Bartholomae has signed a contract extension for the second time in as many years, the university announced Friday, and this latest contract runs through 2031 and includes a significant pay increase that will have him earning nearly double or more of most of his peers in the Mid-American Conference.
Bartholomae, 45, will now make at least $750,000 a year in annual base salary, including a $50,000-a-year retention bonus ― and that is eye-popping money for an athletic director at any mid-major university. He earned $340,000 under the contract he signed in 2024, and $290,000 when he was hired in January 2022.
The contract is expected to be approved at the WMU Board of Trustees meeting Sept. 11.
"Under Dan's leadership, the performance of our student-athletes, coaches and the entire department has made it easy to root our entire department. Not only do we win often, we also compete with honor and honesty," WMU president Russ Kavalhuna said in a statement. "Without doubt, Dan's leadership, clear vision and detailed plan for athletics has elevated the national profile of intercollegiate athletics and Western Michigan has a whole.
"With this extension, Dan and the university have made substantial long-term commitments to the future of Bronco athletics at a critical moment in the history of Division I athletics."
The new contract comes months after the Western Michigan hockey program won a national championship, and after Bartholomae emerged as a serious candidate for the AD opening at Michigan State. Michigan State eventually hired J Batt. Western Michigan announced the extension for Bartholomae on the Friday that Western Michigan was getting ready to play at Michigan State in the football season opener.
There has been additional interest in Bartholomae from other schools during his less than four years in Kalamazoo.
His new contract, the details of which were obtained by The Detroit News, also includes a massive buyout figure that's practically unheard of for any athletic director, especially in the MAC: If Bartholomae were to leave the university in Year 1, he would owe WMU $5.1 million; in Year 2, it's $4.25 million; and in Year 3, it's $3.4 million.
In other words, WMU has its athletic director on lockdown for the foreseeable future. Kavalhuna succeeded Edward Montgomery, who gave Bartholomae his first contract extension last year.
Bartholomae's contract also includes modest potential for bonuses, based on WMU's athletics success on the playing field and in the classroom, and his continued ability to raise money and sell tickets.
"It is an honor and a privilege to lead one of the top Division I athletic programs in the country," Bartholome said in a statement. "Our department has set an ambitious vision of comprehensive excellence where every student-athlete will graduate ready to pursue a meaningful career, establish a high-quality connection with our community and compete for a championship. And at every turn, our coaches, staff and student-athletes have delivered on that vision.
"I am thankful to be on a team with them, and I'm particularly appreciative of the commitment and support of our new president, Russ Kavalhuna, and the tremendous partnerships our athletic department has with so many great people in southwest Michigan.
"The work is just beginning!"
The contract makes him one of the two highest-paid athletic directors in the MAC. Ryan Bamford, athletic director at UMass, which joined the conference starting with this football season, makes more than $700,000 a year in base pay. Most MAC athletic directors make in the $300,000-$400,000 range, including the two others in Michigan, Central Michigan's Amy Folan, who makes at least $342,086, and Eastern Michigan's Scott Wetherbee, who makes at least $355,000 a year. Folan and Wetherbee both signed contract extensions last year, along with Bartholomae.
Since Bartholomae was hired to replace longtime athletic director Kathy Beauregard when she retired at the end of 2021, Western Michigan teams have combined to win 28 conference championships and make 28 playoff appearances, including the hockey program, which won its first Division I national championship earlier this year. (That performance helped WMU secure earn more than $40 million in earned media, or branding exposure, according to a recently commissioned study by the athletic department.)
Bartholomae also has helped to increase external revenues for Western Michigan by 62% since he 2022, and that comes at a critical juncture, with revenue sharing with student-athletes now the law of the land.
Under Bartholomae, Western Michigan also secured a new ― and privately funded ― $300 million athletic complex in Kalamazoo which will house the men's and women's basketball teams and the hockey team. It's set to open in 2028. In addition to that facility, in recent years, WMU has fully renovated the women's basketball locker room and made locker-room renovations for gymnastics, women's track and field and men's tennis; installed new playing surfaces at Waldo Stadium, University Arena and the Seelye Athletic Center; and built a new performance center for women's golf.
Bartholomae also has had marquee head-coaching hires in football (Lance Taylor), men's basketball (DJ Stephens) and women's basketball (Kate Achter) in the last three years. Last year, e extended head coach hockey Pat Ferschweiler, before the hockey team won the national championship.
"I knew from the moment I met Dan in January of 2022 that he would be the athletic director to bring Western Michigan a national championship," said Jackson Hammerschmidt, a Western Michigan senior and president of the hockey fan base, the Lawson Lunatics. "He did that, and with his positive energy, attitude and love for the Brown and Gold, it certainly won't be the last.
"His leadership has raised the standard for what it means to serve a university, and Western is stronger because of it."
WMU athletes also recently have set school records in grade-point average ― they earn degrees at a success rate that far exceeds the general student body ― and community-service hours, the latter tops the MAC for three consecutive years, and fifth in the country for the 2024-25 school year. WMU says it averages more than 6,000 hours a year in volunteer hours, with 100% of its athletes participating to some degree.
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New Contract for Dan Bartholomae
