Emmert made $1.7 million, according to NCAA tax return

• NCAA president%27s compensation for 2011 was 46%25 more than predecessor
• Emmert had been making %24870%2C000 as president of the University of Washington
• NCAA%27s legal expenses more than doubled from previous two years

NCAA President Mark Emmert was credited with nearly $1.7 million in compensation during the 2011 calendar year, according to the association's new federal tax return.

That calendar year was Emmert's first in the position, in which succeeded the late Myles Brand.

Chief Operating Officer Jim Isch earned $977,531, according to the return. In the 2010 calendar year, Isch earned $760,480.

The return, which the NCAA provided Wednesday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports, shows that Emmert received:

• $1,201,159 in base compensation.
• $234,300 in retirement and deferred compensation.
• $214,947 in other reportable compensation.
• $23,689 in nontaxable benefits.

Emmert's total of $1,674,095 means he received 46% more in compensation than Brand did.

In Brand's final full year as NCAA president he received $1,145,880, which included $770,739 in base pay and $201,264 in bonuses and incentives. Brand died Sept. 16, 2009.

The NCAA's new tax return also provided an indication of the mounting legal pressure it has been facing.

The association reported nearly $9.5 million in legal expenses during a fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, 2012 – more than what it reported for that spending category in its two previous fiscal years, combined. (While compensation data in the federal tax returns of non-profits are for a calendar year, the revenue and expense reporting covers the organization's fiscal year.)

The NCAA reported nearly $4.1 million in legal expenses for 2010-11 and a little more than $4.1 million for 2009-10.

Its total for 2011-12 was its greatest since 2006-07, when it reported nearly $20.1 million in legal expenses.

As a private, non-profit organization, the NCAA is not required to make public its employment contracts. The return showed showed two other executives with more than $500,000 in compensation in 2011 -- executive vice president Bernard Franklin and interim executive vice president Greg Shaheen, who received comparable amounts in 2010. Shaheen no longer works for the NCAA.

The new return showed that former executive vice president Tom Jernstedt received $456,430 in severance from the NCAA in 2011; he received $89,518 in such pay, plus regular compensation in 2010. Four other former NCAA executives each received more than $175,000 in severance in 2011.

"Overall NCAA salaries and compensation increased 3.4%, driven by pay raises in the 2%-3% range and higher health insurance costs," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said in a statement. "After accounting for severance pay for five former employees and the first full year of President Emmert's salary, executive salaries remained relatively stable from 2010 to 2011."

Emmert, in his previous job as president of the University of Washington, was paid $870,000 a year, according to data compiled by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Under a contract signed in July 2009, Emmert's compensation package included $620,000 in base salary; the rest was under a complex deferred compensation plan that had different amounts vesting based on years of service.

Emmert had free housing and a $12,000 annual car allowance from Washington, plus the opportunity for a six-month paid sabbatical after June 14, 2012. He also was a tenured professor in the university's public-affairs school and its business school. He resigned those positions when he departed for the NCAA, university spokesman Norm Arkans said last July.

Because the NCAA is organized as a non-profit, it must annually file a tax return that includes information about the pay of officers, directors and most highly compensated employees. Although the return covers a fiscal year that involves parts of two calendar years, the IRS requires that the compensation reporting cover the most recently completed calendar year.

In the NCAA's case, the return it filed last week covers a tax year from Sept. 1, 2011 through Aug. 31, 2012, making 2011 the most recently completed calendar year.

Due to the complexity of its return, the NCAA — like many colleges, universities and other large non-profits — routinely takes filing extensions that result in a significant time lag between the period covered by its most recent return and the date it files.

Contributing: Rachel Axon