The Eastern athletic department introduced three new head coaches starting the 2013-14 school year with all of them earning a higher salary then their predecessors.

First, Debbie Black was hired to replace Lee Buchanan as the women’s head basketball coach.

Buchanan spent five years as an assistant under Brady Sallee before taking over as the head coach for the 2012-13 season. Under his head-coaching contract, Buchanan earned a base salary of $110,000.

Buchanan only lasted one year at the helm of the team prior to suddenly resigning in mid-April.

A month later Black was picked up from the Ohio State women’s basketball coaching staff and was given her first head coaching position in her career. Black received a three-year deal with a base salary of $115,000 — which is $5,000 more than Buchanan.

The second hiring during the summer came in July, when Angie Nicholson became the new softball coach.

Coming from Cleveland State, where Nicholson was the head softball coach for seven years, she earned a base salary of $60,000 from Eastern.

Nicholson replaced Kim Schuette, who left Eastern for Purdue in June. Schuette was the Panthers’ softball coach for eight years. Schuette’s last contract at Eastern had her earning a base salary of $57,710.04.

The final hiring during the summer came in August, as Jason Cherry was named the interim head women’s soccer coach.

Cherry moved up from his assistant coach position and earned $45,000 in his first season. Cherry still has the interim title, which could be why he earns less than Summer Perala, who was the women’s soccer coach from 2009.

Perala resigned officially resigned in July, but before then she was making $51,958.42.

Although Cherry is making less than his predecessor, the trend at Eastern is giving coaches a bit of a pay raise compared to the previous coach in any given sport.

Nicholson and Black on average make $3,644.98 more than the coaches they are replacing, but that number dramatically increases when factoring in football and men’s basketball.

Jay Spoonhour is in his second year as the men’s basketball coach. He took over the program in 2012, following a seven-year run by Mike Miller.

Miller previously held the head coaching position at Texas State from 2000-04. Heading into his final season as Eastern’s coach, Miller’s salary was $137,389.30.

Spoonhour’s three-year deal has him earning $160,000 per year. Before coming to Eastern, Spoonhour’s only head coaching experience came in 2004, when he was the interim head coach at UNLV.

The difference between Miller’s contract and Spoonhour’s contract is $22,610.70, but that has not been the biggest discrepancy between coaches’ contracts since 2011.

Dino Babers was hired in late 2011, replacing Eastern legend Bob Spoo. After two seasons in charge of the football team, Babers left, but was then replaced by Kim Dameron.

Babers and Dameron and have the exact same contract, which includes identical incentives — the only difference is the length, as Babers signed a three-year deal to Dameron’s five years.

Dameron’s base salary is $170,000 — the same as Babers, which is $53,140 more than what Spoo earned without any incentives during his final contract.

Eastern currently does not have a men’s soccer coach, but if the trend continues whoever is hired would be making more than previous head coach Adam Howarth, who made $41,192.15 per year.

Unless the new coach is placed with the interim tag, which may include a lower salary like in the case of Cherry.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu.