DeLoss Dodds gets a $62,500 bonus if Texas’ athletic department operates “with financial solvency,” Kirby Hocutt gets a payment worth 6 percent of his base salary if Texas Tech makes a bowl game, and Kansas State’s John Currie simply gets a bonus if Bill Snyder earns one.

These interesting tidbits were revealed when USA Today came out with its new survey of athletic director salaries, which are on the rise across the country.

Dodds, not surprisingly, earns the most among Big 12 athletic directors with a total compensation package of $1,109,041. Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione is next, earning $1 million.

Third place, however, comes as a surprise. Iowa State’s Jamie Pollard makes $900,000, which is third-most among Big 12 athletic directors, and 12th-most in the country. No one else in the Big 12 earns more than $700,000. Pollard’s relatively high income, though, stems from a one-time retention payment of $400,000 he received last year for completing eight years of employment. The Cyclones are smart to give Pollard incentive to stay. He is responsible for hiring Paul Rhoads and Fred Hoiberg to coach Iowa State’s football and men’s basketball programs. The Cyclones have gone to bowl games in three of four years under Rhoads, and Hoiberg has Iowa State on the cusp of making back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.

Overall, the USA Today study found that FBS athletic directors make an average of about $515,000, or roughly one-third of what they pay their football coaches.