NCAA President Mark Emmert earned $1.7 million in 2012

NCAA President Mark Emmert may be embattled, but he doesn’t appear broke.

Federal tax returns reveal Emmert earned $1.7 million in 2012, a 5% increase over 2011.

Emmert, who became NCAA president in 2010, has come under increasing fire as intercollegiate athletics faces a series of controversies and court battles.

Emmert’s leadership has been deemed ineffective by many, but his bottom line appears solid. As a nonprofit, the NCAA must annually release the salaries of its most highly compensated employees.

NCAA CEO Jim Isch, according to the return, earned $1.01 million in 2012.

Emmert’s salary may seem high but pales in comparison with the reported $3 million (roughly) earned in the 2011-12 fiscal year by Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Scott.

Scott, if he wanted, could justify the difference the way Babe Ruth did in 1930 when Ruth was asked about making more money than President Herbert Hoover.

Ruth’s response: “I had a better year than Hoover.”