Coaching Buyouts and Contract Extensions Thread

[847badgerfan]

Illinois, I believe, was the last school in the Big Ten to have it's AD be a separate institution. After Mike White's last probation, the AD was folded into the University.

[CatsbyAZ]

This has gotten a lot of run on the Purdue blog because of the Brohm-Louisville connections.

Been wondering how Brohm fits into all this as well. There seems to be this understood fact that Brohm and Louisville will end up together at first chance. But let’s think about the finances of this. If Louisville rightfully fired Petrino and hired Brohm it would likely come with a $35-40 MILLION DOLLAR price tag. $15 automatically to Petrino and I am assuming a $20 million dollar contract for Brohm. $4 mil for 5 years?

[betarhoalphadelta]

Been wondering how Brohm fits into all this as well. There seems to be this understood fact that Brohm and Louisville will end up together at first chance. But let’s think about the finances of this. If Louisville rightfully fired Petrino and hired Brohm it would likely come with a $35-40 MILLION DOLLAR price tag. $15 automatically to Petrino and I am assuming a $20 million dollar contract for Brohm. $4 mil for 5 years?

Actually, a lot of Purdue fans think it would be more likely that if Petrino were fired now, Brohm wouldn't jump ship from Purdue this quickly, for a couple reasons:

• He publicly talked about taking the Purdue job when everyone was claiming it was a total rebuild and how he was up for that. It would be weird to walk away after two years of that.
• Brohm seems to be a very down to earth guy, believes in loyalty, apple pie, and the American Way. We don't think he's going to be around forever, but don't think he's going to jump ship after two years for at best a lateral move, even if it's his alma mater.
• Right now Louisville's entire athletic department is a dumpster fire. There's the FBI stuff swirling over the BBall program. There's the fact that their biggest booster just got in trouble for racist comments and got his name taken off the stadium. Their finances are in trouble. They're being sued. The previous AD of 20 years was fired. Who knows if he has any faith in or relationship with the current AD, and whether that AD will weather this whole storm when all is said and done. 

Some in the Purdue camp think it's best for Purdue that Petrino get fired immediately and replaced with a coach at Louisville who more likely to be successful long-term, because we don't necessarily think the timing is right for Brohm to jump over there. Of course, the downside is that if Petrino is replaced by a failure who is canned after three years, that's perfect timing for Brohm to go back. 

If Petrino lasts two more years, of course, Louisville gets their athletic department turned around, and Brohm has produced results where he can point to his Purdue tenure as a successful rebuild? I can see him leveraging that into a move back to his alma mater. 

[CatsbyAZ]

Looks like you were right bear, Brohm staying at Purdue for the time being.

Anyway, anyone else see that after another 7 win season and a total record of 38-38 Boston College extended Steve Addazio’s contract two years, from 2020 to 2022? At most I figured he should only get a 1 year extension (because of recruiting) with absolutely nothing added to the buyout, but this might be worth it because I think Boston College is plateauing where they want and in that overcrowded Boston sports market Addazio and the AD can get away with it.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Looks like you were right bear, Brohm staying at Purdue for the time being.

If you want some additional color on it, listen to this interview that Brohm did on a Louisville radio show a few days after the decision. 
Gives you a lot of color on the quality of a human being he is... Especially listen about 18 minutes in when the host asks him about how hard it was to not come back knowing how important Louisville as a community and the university are to his father.

[CatsbyAZ]

What?!?! How does Lovie Smith get a two year contract extension after this past 4 win season and a 9-27 w/l record in three seasons?

This Chicago Tribune article blames the initial 6 year contract: “Whitman really couldn’t fire Smith even if he wanted to after this season. Handcuffed by an unnecessarily costly six-year contract that required a $12 million buyout this year, Whitman needed to keep Smith employed.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-illinois-lovie-smith-contract-extension-20181125-story,amp.html

[FearlessF]

blame the initial 6 year deal now and then blame the 2 year extension next December?

[CatsbyAZ]

From Arizona Daily Star: Football Buyouts push ASU, Arizona into budget deficits: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.azcentral.com/amp/2874084002

“Despite revenue record, Arizona State athletics is reporting a $13.1-million deficit for the 2017-18 fiscal year largely due to buying out football coach Todd Graham.”

“Arizona athletics also is reporting a $7.4-million deficit for 2017-18 because of $8.2 million due in severance payments. The majority of that ($6.2 million) goes to former football coach Rich Rodriguez, who was under contract through May 2020, with the rest for assistant coaches.”

[CatsbyAZ]

In wake of Chris Ash's firing from Rutgers over the weekend, here's a 2017 article covering the extension he signed after going 4-8, updating the existing contract through 2022: https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/2017/11/chris_ash_signs_new_5-year_contract_at_rutgers_pat.html

"Shortly before kickoff of Saturday's season finale, Rutgers reaffirmed its commitment to Ash after improvements in his second year by essentially restarting the clock on his tenure and replacing the original five-year, $11 million agreement signed in December 2015.

"Rutgers is trying to secure and supplement a Top 40-ranked 2018 recruiting class committed a few weeks from the new early signing period.

"It is very rare for a college football coach to go into the third year of his first five-year contact unless the school is lukewarm about his future.

"The name of the game in recruiting is for a coach to pitch that he will be at the school for the full length of a high schooler's college career. Otherwise, job uncertainty can be used in anti-recruiting by rivals.

Now that Chris Ash has been fired three seasons short of contract end, Rutgers owes Ash $8.5 million in buyout money. Yes, the recruiting angle is understandable - extending a coach's contract to accommodate for the 5-year recruiting cycle is one of the few things an AD can do to provide stability to a coaching tenure.

But what I badly want to know is why do ADs always FULLY GUARANTEE the money backing the extension, any extension?!?! Why not only partially guarantee the last two or three years? Start with only guaranteeing $1 Million for every year left - that way instead of owing Ash over $8 million, you're athletic department owes less than half when it's time to move on.

[Cincydawg]

I presume most coaches use agents (???).  I wonder how Pruitt at Tenn is feeling about his job security.

[CatsbyAZ]

I presume most coaches use agents (???).  I wonder how Pruitt at Tenn is feeling about his job security.

Meaning what? Agents for Coaches render ADs useless to negotiate?

Because the Football Coach is the most powerful face at many larger universities, I’m guessing ADs don’t want to risk the good terms of their working relationship coming down to how much of the HC’s contract is guaranteed. Which also goes hand in hand with how many ADs are too quick to pull the trigger on unwarranted coaching extensions.

Here’s another head scratcher: https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2017/12/06/pitt-signs-narduzzi-seven-year-extension/

From Dec 6 2017: “Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi has signed a seven-year contract extension that will keep him at Pitt through the 2024 season, athletic director Heather Lyke announced on Wednesday.

Narduzzi just completed his third year as head coach of the Panthers and has a 21-17 record. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Peter Thamel of Yahoo! reported on Tuesday that the new contract included a raise for Narduzzi and an increase in the salary pool for his assistant coaches.

“We’re thrilled Pat Narduzzi is our head football coach,” Lyke said in a press release. “We are deeply committed to helping him, his staff and his student-athletes achieve at the highest levels in the ACC and nationally. Coach Narduzzi is a tireless worker, dynamic leader and passionate about building outstanding relationships with our student-athletes and everyone connected to our Pitt family. He and his staff are fully dedicated to building a national-caliber program the right way, on and off the field.”

[Cincydawg]

I just wondered if coaches often use agents to work out contract details.  These are big numbers, often with moving parts, sliding scales, and clauses preventing the coach from riding a motorcyle with a coed on the back.

[CWSooner]

I just wondered if coaches often use agents to work out contract details.  These are big numbers, often with moving parts, sliding scales, and clauses preventing the coach from riding a motorcyle with a coed on the back.

You forgot the "Don't pay for strippers with a university credit card" clause.

[utee94]

ROOOOOLLLLL TIDE!