Two Texas university presidents are among the nation’s top paid public college execs, according to this item in the Chron. But neither University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa or UT President William Powers Jr. can top the salary of fellow UT "educator" Mack Brown.

The annual Chronicle of Higher Education survey of university salaries reports that Cigarroa made $750,000 in academic year 2009-2010, while Powers was paid $746,738. They came in a distant second and third to the president of Ohio State University, who made $1.3 million.

With perks such as deferred compensation, Cigarroa’s total pay was $813,892.

But Brown last year made an estimated $5.1 million. So esteemed is the head football coach that dialing up the Longhorns Web site includes his name in the URL. As long as they have their priorities straight over at UT.

Referring to the Chronicle for Higher Education study, the Wall Street Journal reports that top-tier public university presidents received average raises of 1 percent last year. The article also points out:

In Austin, for instance, University of Texas Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa is asking lawmakers to limit proposed reductions in the state's funding of higher education, even as his compensation was third highest, by total cost of employment, among public-university leaders in America.

***

Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, NewsVine and tumblr.

Photo of UT band by flickr user ilovemypit, used via a Creative Commons license.