B Y K E N N Y J A C O BY
CASH FOR UO
COURTESY CARS
Athletic department employees collect
hundreds of thousands in stipends in
lieu of actual cars
he University of Oregon athletic department, like
many athletic departments in the country, has a
“courtesy car” program, in which it provides its
employees free cars to drive for personal use. The
program, in theory, should be free to the depart-
ment, because the cars are provided by local auto dealer-
ships as gift-in-kind, and the employees using them pay for
the insurance.
An analysis of public records obtained by Eugene
Weekly, however, shows the UO athletic department has
been paying its employees hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars through the program by awarding lucrative monthly
stipends in lieu of actual cars.
Contracts between the UO athletic department and its
employees often include a clause saying the department
will provide the employee one or two courtesy cars to use
during their employment. The clauses also state that if the
athletic department is unable to provide a car, it will pay
the employee a stipend instead of a car, usually between
$300 and $600 a month.
Those stipends have added up to more than $1.1 million
in the last decade, EW’s analysis shows. In the last two
years, the athletic department has paid an average of more
than $12,500 a month on stipends and $150,000 a year.
The athletic department promises employees far more
cars than it actually has, so the majority of employees in-
volved in the program receive monthly stipends in lieu of
cars. The athletic department currently has 36 courtesy
cars at its disposal, but as recently as August 2017, 42
employees collected stipends in lieu of cars. The athletic
department declined to say whether all 36 cars were cur-
rently in use.
Many employees, including UO athletic director Rob
Mullens, have collected tens of thousands of dollars in
monthly stipends over several years. Mullens’ contract
entitles him to two courtesy cars on top of his $700,000
base salary; he drives one and collects $600 per month in
stipends in lieu of the other.
During his seven years as athletic director, Mullens
has made more than $50,000 off stipends in lieu of cars,
the most of any athletic department employee since 2007.
Head golf coach Casey Martin has made $44,000 in nine
years. Former women’s lacrosse coach Jen Beck and cur-
rent men’s basketball coach Dana Altman — who receives
both a courtesy car and a stipend for a second car — have
made $38,000 each off car stipends.
Chris Sinclair, a math professor and president of the
UO faculty senate, calls the program an “embarrassingly
ridiculous” use of funds, which could be allocated to other
purposes, such as reducing the cost of football tickets the
athletic department charges to students. According to the
athletic department’s projected 2018 budget, it expects to
bring in $113 million in revenue and spend every dollar.
“It’s clearly just a way of getting some additional
money into these people’s pockets,” Sinclair said. “These
people are already rich, or at least richer than I am. So I do
think that is problematic, and really the word is ridiculous
as far as I’m concerned.”
The UO athletic department, through spokesman Jim-
T
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September 28, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
T H E U O S P E N T $150 , 000 A Y E A R I N T H E PA S T T W O Y E A R S O N C O U R T E S Y C A R S T I P E N D S F O R AT H L E T I C S
my Stanton, did not answer why the athletic department
promises its employees cars it is unable to provide.
“This is a standard compensation practice throughout
the marketplace in college athletics,” Stanton told EW via
email. “Anyone who receives an automobile or stipend
does so through their employment agreement.” Stanton
collected a $400 stipend last month in lieu of a courtesy
car.
According to EW’s analysis, 104 different employees
have received more than 3,200 monthly stipends in lieu of
cars in the past 10 years. The courtesy car program started
in November 2007, when then-athletic director Pat Kilken-
ny paid himself and four other employees stipends of be-
tween $300 and $500. The number of employees partici-
pating in the program grew to 17 in 2008, and by 2009, it
reached 35. In 2017, 52 different employees have received
stipends, including head coaches, assistant coaches and
athletic department administrators.
In general, employees in more prestigious positions
receive bigger stipends and/or multiple cars. Altman and
former head football coach Chip Kelly each received $500
monthly stipends. Head coaches of smaller sports and as-
sociate athletic directors typically receive $400 stipends.
The lowest stipend is $300, offered primarily to assistant
coaches.
Records show four of UO’s 14 head coaches — Martin,
soccer’s Kat Mertz, softball’s Mike White and acrobatics
and tumbling’s Keenyn Won — are currently receiving
$400 monthly stipends. Six of head football coach Willie
Taggart’s nine assistant coaches — Jim Leavitt, Marcus
Arroyo, Joe Salave’a, Keith Heyward, Donte Pimpleton
and Charles Clark — are currently receiving $300 monthly
stipends. Taggart is entitled to two courtesy cars and is not
receiving a stipend.
The average stipend for athletic department employees
is $343 a month, or $4,125 per year, the records show. That
is about $700 less than the amount the average American
household spends on gasoline, motor oil and other vehicle
expenses per year, according to the U.S. Department of La-
bor Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent data from 2015.
“My car payment is $325-or-something a month, so
these people can essentially get a car better than mine
without having to pay for it,” Sinclair said. “It just seems
ridiculous to me.”
Mertz said she uses her $400 monthly stipend toward
her personal car payment, but did not say whether it ap-
propriately covered her costs.
“I haven’t actually ever looked into it,” Mertz said.
The UO athletic department declined to disclose the
make and model of the cars, which are owned by local car
dealerships as opposed to the department itself.
Public records show Martin collected $3,733 a month
in courtesy car stipends for four years straight and former
assistant football John Neal more than $2,569 a month for
a year, but Stanton disputed those records. According to
Stanton, $3,333 of Martin’s stipends were “related to golf
course duties” and Neal’s were “performance stipends.”
UO President Michael Schill receives a $1,200 monthly
car stipend from the UO Foundation in lieu of a school-
provided vehicle, his contract shows. Unlike athletic de-
partment employees, Schill’s stipend comes with the caveat
that he will not receive any vehicle-related reimbursement
from the school. Athletic department employees are typi-
cally entitled to receive business-travel-related reimburse-
ment in addition to a courtesy car or stipend.
No UO faculty receive courtesy cars, according to Sin-
clair.
“I have to buy my own car, and I think that I work as
hard for the university as other faculty members or any
member of athletics,” Sinclair. “These people are already
well paid. They can buy their own damn car.” ■
Jack Butler contributed reporting to this story.