Some articles require a soundtrack…
There’s a little known story about Bobby Bonilla’s contract that’s been making its rounds across the internet for a little while. According to many sources, the New York Mets stroke Mr. Bonilla a check each year for $1.2 million to continue enjoying his retirement. Bonilla hasn’t played baseball in over a decade, and yet the Metropolitans continue to make said cash deposits. His agent, thus, is entitled to the “Best-Sports-Agent-Of-All-Time” Award, which Bearcats Sports Radio hands out to only the best and brightest sharks in the business. Which brings me to discuss college football coaching contracts, in general.
Recently, the USA Today released a list of every D-1 college football coach’s salary. The list does not take into account extra income for sponsorships, speaking engagements, and other sources, but does provide a lot of insight into school contract salaries.
Nick Saban is at the top, raking in $7,160,187.00 this year. On top of this, the ‘Bama donors recently paid off his $3.1 million mortgage one week after Saban’s agent spoke with Texas since he was clearly hurting for money.
Some contracts also allow for structured bonuses, mainly for winning conference championships or bowl games. Others even include bonuses for academic progress. Louisville’s Bobby Petrino, widely known as a coach uninterested in the classroom and more interested in his motor cycle and grad assistants, is set to pocket $500,000.00 this year for the team’s Academic Progress Rate. The payment of this sum of money is clearly fitting for Mr. Petrino, a gentleman and a scholar.
Our very own Tommy Tuberville is the 44th highest paid coach in the country with a 2014 salary of $2.2 million, and potential max bonus of $565,000.00. He is the highest paid coach in the American Athletic Conference. UCF’s George O’Leary comes in next at 58th with a salary of $1.8 million. Looking back at the old Big East Schools, only Louisville and West Virginia are ranked higher than UC’s checkbook.
The current Nippert Stadium renovations, coupled with future Fifth Third Arena renovations, and commitments to Tommy Tuberville and Mick Cronin demonstrate the University of Cincinnati is serious about its athletics (hint hint ACC and Big 12).
By Technical Writer: Andy Smith