I have a bad habit of not checking my Google alerts very often. Maybe that should be my New Year’s resolution: Paying attention.

Because of it, one item I nearly missed was this story by Bloomberg Press regarding athletic director salaries. With the national title game tonight, the story is centered on athletic directors and the issues they face. It says that Florida’s Jeremy Foley is the highest paid AD in the nation. He earns a guaranteed salary of $965,000 with the potential for more based on benefits and bonuses.

But I’m thinking that’s not the part you’ll care about. You want to now where Jeff Long’s salary ranks in the SEC, right?

Well there’s good news. As part of the story, Bloomberg listed salaries of ADs from across the country and where they ranked. Then they grouped them together by conference. Long, who makes $450,000, is the fourth-highest paid AD in the SEC according to their research.

Here are the SEC ADs, their salaries and the school’s athletic department budgets. What do you think?

1. Jeremy Foley (Florida) – $965,000 – $83.1 million

2. Joe Alleva (LSU) – $55,000 – $75.8 million

3. Mitch Barnhart (Kentucky) – $475,000 – $67 million

4. Jeff Long (Arkansas) – $450,000 – $51.8 million

5. Damon Evans (Georgia) – $420,000 – $76.3 million

6. Mal Moore (Alabama) – $400,000 – $77 million

7. Jay Jacobs (Auburn) – $355,050 – $75.2 million

8. Pete Boone (Ole Miss) – $327,400 – $38.2 million

9. Mike Hamilton (Tennessee) – $314,575 – $ 86.5 million

10. Eric Hyman (South Carolina) – $309,065 – $52.1 million

11. Greg Byrne (Mississippi State) – $175,000 – $31.8 million