A close look at the Auburn coaching contracts

Gene Chizik’s mission statement upon accepting the head coaching position at Auburn included making the program a winner again.

Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs would reward him handsomely for doing so.

Chizik’s contract, released to the media for the first time on Monday, includes several performance incentives. The first-year coach’s salary could jump from $1.9 million to upward of $3.4 million if he meets performance and academic goals.

Here's a breakdown of his $1.9 million salary:
$500,000 for base salary
$700,000 for personal endorsements
$700,000 for radio, Internet and television rights and program and personal appearances

Here are his incentives:

• Chizik could receive as much as $75,000 for his team’s academic performance. That would require a perfect Academic Progress Rate of 1.000. He would make $25,000 for a .930 APR and $50,000 for a .950 APR. Auburn scored a .959 last season. Georgia’s score of .976 led the SEC last year.
• If he earns 10 wins in a season - $75,000; 11 wins - $100,000; 12 wins - $125,000; 13 wins - $150,000; 14 wins - $200,000
• If he reaches the SEC Championship Game, he receives $100,000. If he wins the game, he gets an additional $200,000.
• Chizik gets $50,000 for any bowl appearance.
  
• If Auburn is ranked in the top 5 of either the Associated Press or the Coaches' Poll, he gets $100,000.
• If he is named the SEC Coach of the Year, by either the coaches or the AP, Chizik gets $100,000.
• He can get $100,000 for being honored as national coach of the year as well.
  
• Chizik would make $500,000 if he wins the national championship.
  

Here's a look at some other points in both Chizik's contract and the assistant coaches' contracts:

• Chizik gets $500,000 per year if he is fired without cause, paid in equal monthly increments until the end of the contract or until he finds other employment. In case of his contract getting terminated, he would also be required “to use reasonable efforts to obtain other employment and/or income from third parties…”
• In case of termination without cause, Chizik would be paid $500,000 every year until he got another job, including broadcasting or any other work. Then he would get paid $500,000 minus whatever he got paid through his new gig. The same works for all Auburn football coaches.
• Chizik is not due to get paid if he resigns.
• Chizik may resign for free in case of serious illness or disability, but if he resigns for any other reason, he owes Auburn $500,000 for every year remaining on his contract. His first payment would be due within 30 days of contract termination and the second would be due one year from the termination.
• In case of physical or mental disability, the university would pay Chizik 60 percent of his base salary for the remainder of the contract.
  
• Auburn loaned Chizik the $750,000 it cost for his buyout at Iowa State. Every year he’s at Auburn, $150,000 of the total sum will be forgiven from the loan. If he stays through his contract it is entirely forgiven.
  
• If Chizik’s contract is terminated for cause or if he resigns prior to Dec. 31, 2013, Chizik would owe the university a pro-rated amount of the loan. He would owe 50 percent of the remaining loan within 30 days and the other 50 percent within one year.
• If Chizik’s contract is terminated without cause, he does not owe any money on the loan. Chizik gets two new cars and Auburn pays for gas, service, maintenance and insurance.
• His contract was finalized on June 11.
  
• Discretionary bonuses available as decided by the university.
  
• All coaches must notify Jacobs if they wish to speak to other schools about job openings.
• In case of an NCAA investigation of any particular coach or the program, Auburn may withhold any payments. If it comes back that there were no violations, the coach gets the money he was owed.
• Any coach may be fired if “he or any person under his supervision or subject to his control or authority is involved in significant or repetitive violations of NCAA regulations.”
• Any coach may also be fired if he committed any significant or repetitive violations during a previous stint with another school.
• There is also a personal conduct policy that specifies if any coach’s actions reflect poorly on the program or university, he may be fired.
• Coordinators Ted Roof and Gus Malzahn both signed three-year deals.
• Both coordinators will receive an additional $25,000 payment within 30 days of Jan. 15 every year if they are still employed by Auburn for the final game of the regular season and they do not voluntarily resign prior to Jan. 15.
• Through a car allowance, coaches are entitled to either 5 percent of his salary or $4,000 – whichever is greater. The allowance may not surpass $16,250 per year.
• All coaches are repaid for program-related travel expenses.
• Auburn’s assistants are paid a total of $2.56 million.
  

Here's a list of the assistant coach salaries:

Roof: 3 years, $370,000 annually, signed July 21
Malzahn: 3 years, $350,000 annually, signed Aug. 26
Trooper Taylor: 3 years, $320,000 annually, signed Aug. 26
Tracy Rocker: 2 years, $300,000 annually, signed Aug. 21
Jeff Grimes: 2 years, $290,000 annually, signed Aug. 24
Curtis Luper: 2 years, $260,000 annually, signed Aug. 21
Tommy Thigpen: 2 years, $250,000 annually, signed Aug. 21
Phillip Lolley: 2 years, $210,000 annually, signed June 18
Jay Boulware: 2 years, $210,000 annually, signed Aug. 3