AUGUSTA, Maine — University of Maine men’s hockey head coach Ben Barr has helped the Black Bears return to near the top of national rankings this season, a success that is setting him up to become the state’s highest-paid public employee.
In a nation dominated by college football and basketball coaches receiving the highest public employee salaries, Barr will also make Maine the only state in the country with a college hockey coach as its top public earner after his new, four-year contract extension kicks in July 1.
That is assuming no other public school’s hockey coach in another state suddenly receives a hefty raise to surpass the multimillion-dollar salaries for many college football and basketball coaches. In his third year in Orono, Barr will make $425,000 under the agreement the university announced last week, and he will receive a $15,000 raise each year after 2024.
He currently makes $256,000 a year and is on track to surpass UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy as the state’s highest-paid public employee, with Ferrini-Mundy making a base salary of $422,300, according to university data.
A UMaine spokesperson said contracts for various bargaining units, including for faculty and some university and system leaders, are still not settled and could change by July 1. Otherwise, Barr will take the top spot from Ferrini-Mundy. UMaine women’s hockey head coach Molly Engstrom earns $90,000 a year, according to an athletic department spokesperson.
Barr’s salary is rather modest when considering the salaries for Division I football and basketball coaches, and he is closer to the middle of the pack among Hockey East coaching peers.
College football or basketball coaches were reportedly the highest-paid public employees in 40 states as of last fall, with former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban leading the country by making more than $11 million annually before retiring in January.
But UMaine has been known more for success in hockey rather than in football and basketball, the top two revenue generators for most Division I schools. The Black Bears won hockey national championships in 1993 and 1999 but have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2012.
That drought is likely to be snapped this year. The UMaine men’s hockey team is currently ranked seventh in the two national polls, and sits at 17-5-2 overall and 9-4-1 in the top-flight Hockey East Conference as it approaches tournament time in March.
The state’s other public college system leader, Maine Community College System President David Daigler, makes $210,000 annually, according to a spokesperson. Several private college leaders in Maine, meanwhile, have reached seven figures for earnings.
Dr. Matthew Davis, director of the Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta, is Maine’s top earner among state government workers, with a base salary of nearly $336,000 in 2023, according to a salary database.
Barr is a Minnesota native and a former assistant coach and recruiter for a 2021 national championship team at the University of Massachusetts who has also worked at Union College in New York state and Providence College in Rhode Island. He called his contract extension “pretty humbling” and praised Ferrini-Mundy along with various other UMaine leaders.
“It is an unbelievably special place to coach,” Barr said last week. “We’ve made a lot of friends in the community. You’re closer to the community as a coach here than anywhere that I’ve been just because of how much they support us.”
BDN writer Larry Mahoney contributed to this report.
