When Mark Dantonio became MSU's head football coach, he received more than the role of running a football team.
His contract entitled him to two cars, as well as memberships to a local country club and the Michigan Athletic Club.
Such perks are offered to only a few people here at the university, MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said.
The coaches Denbow is referring to are Dantonio, men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo, head men's ice hockey coach Rick Comley and women's basketball coach Suzy Merchant - all deemed "revenue sports" coaches by Denbow. Athletics Director Ron Mason also receives the memberships in his contract.
These country and fitness club memberships cost MSU about $35,000 each year.
There is a sense of responsibility for the coaches and administrators when it comes to the club memberships, Denbow said.
"The president and athletics director hold those people accountable to interact with people in the community," he said. "It's as much an obligation as it is a compensation.
"Yes, they enjoy it, but it's part of their job expectations."
It is not uncommon to have club memberships included in contracts for people who run "high-profile programs," said Ben Jay, senior associate athletics director for finance and operations for The Ohio State University.
Jay confirmed Ohio State Athletics Director Eugene Smith and head football coach Jim Tressel receive country club memberships.
"If you're going to be competitive for high-profile coaches, almost all these kinds of things you have to offer in the contract," he said. "That's just the level the game is being played at right now."
Karmen Prill, a psychology sophomore, doesn't think the club memberships are necessary, however, she understands the need for such benefits to exist.
"(The coaches) are obviously experts at what they do," she said. "To get them to coach at our school, we have to give them perks and incentives to come here."
On the contrary, Josh Sartwell doesn't agree with athletics spending that much money on perks.
"I don't think it's necessary," he said. "A reallocation of resources would be nice to ease the burden of struggling college students like myself."
There also is the MSU athletics courtesy car program, Denbow said, in which 42 out of the 48 vehicles in the program are produced by U.S. manufacturers.
He also mentioned the dealerships that provide the vehicles are Michigan-based and pay state taxes.
"Through contractual agreements with the university, Izzo and Dantonio have two courtesy cars each. In both cases, one is a domestic brand; one is not," Denbow said.
At the eight public universities in Michigan that offer the perk, 250 of 593 coaches and administrators were furnished either a car or a vehicle allowance worth a cumulative $1.4 million a year during this past school year.
In all, 58 coaches at the eight universities - mostly at Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Michigan Tech - get monthly car allowances at a total annual cost of $281,286.
The University of Michigan declined to reveal which employees drive which cars, but head football coach Lloyd Carr, the state's second highest paid coach at $1.46 million annually, got two vehicles.
Others at the school who received two vehicles include hockey coach Red Berenson, who makes $405,000; athletics director Bill Martin, $367,170; and Martin's top aide, Mike Stevenson, $172,675.
With MSU recently increasing its tuition by 9.6 percent, Denbow assured the money used to pay for the memberships comes directly from the athletics department.
"None of this affects the academics side of the house at all," he said.
"If Tom Izzo made a dollar next year, or if Tom Izzo made a billion dollars next year, tuition wouldn't be affected by either."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
