Coaching contracts make headlines

Two college coaching contracts made a splash this week.

University of Minnesota men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith finalized a contract Tuesday that will pay him $1.75 million annually, making him the highest-paid employee in University of Minnesota history. Smith’s seven-year contract was agreed upon roughly nine months after the former Kentucky coach was hired to help rebuild a program tarnished years ago by an academic cheating scandal, and last year by a record 22 losses.

Tubby is represented by attorney Ricky Lefft, a close personal friend who at one time served as a Partner with Synergy Sports Management and as President and Chief Operating Officer for Synergy Sports International.

Some highlights of the deal, in which Smith can earn more than $13 million in base, supplemental and other camp money over the seven-year contract, and can earn additional money in incentives that could boost his annual salary to more than $3.3 million this year, include:

1. A guaranteed annual raise in base salary of 5 percent, pending a yearly job review. Smith’s base salary this year is $600,000, and a 5 percent annual raise will boost the base to more than $800,000 in the seventh year of the deal.

2. $1.15 million in annual supplemental income that will remain fixed over the contract. “Supplemental compensation” includes compensation for media and fundraising appearances, community involvement and endorsements.

3. $50,000 every summer that Smith holds a basketball camp at the university over the first four years of the deal, and retention of said camp profits.

4. A now standard clause in coaching contracts that allows the University to dismiss Smith for just cause for a serious violation as determined by the university, without waiting for a determination by the NCAA.

5. $250,000 in annual deferred retirement payments beginning in 2011. Smith’s contract also includes several incentives, such as $500,000 if the Gophers win the national championship, $250,000 for winning the Big Ten regular-season title and $100,000 for making the NCAA tournament.

6. Additional money for positive academic performance of his team. If the team posts an Academic Progress Rate of 950 or better, Smith will receive an additional $100,000. For each year the team’s graduation rate is 50 percent or higher, the University will also pay Smith $100,000.

Smith’s salary without incentives puts him at the top of the Big Ten with coaches such as Ohio State’s Thad Matta and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, who both make around $2 million per year. The Gophers are 7-1 this season and already boast an impressive recruiting cast for the 2008-2009 endeavor, thanks primarily to Smith’s influence.

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In another big coaching move, Bobby Petrino quit the Atlanta Falcons head coaching position and jumped ship (yet again), this time landing in the SEC West at the University of Arkansas. Petrino succeeds Houston Nutt (a real person), who stepped down at Arkansas two weeks ago and became the head coach at Mississippi. Petrino’s five-year contract with the Razorbacks will pay him $2.85 million per year and includes a $2.85 million buyout if he leaves to take a college or pro job during the first four years. It also purportedly includes an agreement that Petrino not leave to accept a job with another SEC West school.

It was only last January when Petrino left as head coach at Louisville to take over the Falcons, when he agreed to a five-year, $24 million contract. But Petrino’s heart seems to belong to the college game, and moreover he never felt comfortable in Atlanta, where the situation deteriorated quickly (see Michael Vick) and Petrino lost control of his locker room almost immediately.

Petrino is represented by Russ Campbell, an attorney who works out of Birmingham, AL. According to Campbell, Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and general manager, and Arthur Blank, the team’s owner, threatened legal action against Petrino (days before the move actually happened) if the coach tried to leave Atlanta. What tipped them off? It was a phone call from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (a former Arkansas football player) to Blank last Thursday afternoon, in which Jones told Blank that he had gotten a call from the chairman of the board at the University of Arkansas wondering (at least between the lines) if Jones could help broker talks between the sides. McKay later stated that Jones’ actions did not violate NFL tampering rules because Jones did not represent himself as an NFL owner (but rather as a sort of liason).

Blank, however, denies that he ever threatened Petrino or Campwell with the threat of a lawsuit. “That’s a complete [expletive] lie,” Blank said. “There was never any discussion of legal action.”