We don't know how much Shawn Eichorst made as Miami's athletic director because Miami, as a private institution, doesn't release salary figures. But it's safe to assume Eichorst's salary in his new job at Nebraska will go a little further. Nebraska announced it will pay Eichorst a base salary of $973,000, as the school's athletic director. Eichorst resigned Thursday as Miami's athletic director and will join Nebraska's staff Tuesday as a special assistant to chancellor Harvey Perlman. He'll take over the athletic director position Jan. 1 when Tom Osborne retires. Eichorst becomes the Big Ten's third highest-paid athletic director behind Ohio State's Gene Smith (base salary: $1,074,546) and Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez (total compensation: $1,040,800), whom Eichorst served under as Wisconsin's deputy AD from 2009-11. He'll be the sixth highest-paid AD in the country. The next highest-paid Big Ten ADs are Michigan's Dave Brandon ($700,454), Illinois' Mike Thomas ($575,000) and Purdue's Morgan Burke ($505,918). Osborne, conversely, had been one of the lowest-paid major-conference ADs at $277,969 annually, so this is a sizable bump. Not surprisingly, Eichorst's contract also has a large buyout, beginning at $2 million for his first year. Perlman said he interviewed two external candidates for the job. Eichorst toured Nebraska's campus last month after coming to the Midwest for the Miami-Kansas State football game. Nebraska reached out to Alvarez during the vetting process and received a strong stamp of approval. Eichorst obviously knows the Big Ten, and Perlman said league commissioner Jim Delany is very pleased with the choice. Nebraska will introduce Eichorst at a news conference Tuesday in Lincoln.