Breaking Down Justin Wilcox's Contract
Cal football coach Justin Wilcox had the details of his contract released to the media today, first reported by the Mercury News. Through a public records request, GoldenBearReport.com has received the full text of the contract, which has a lot of detail on the incentives that Wilcox can earn over the course of the five-year deal.
READ: Coordinator Contract Details
The Basics
- Five year deal, that runs through the end of 2021
- Base salary of $250,000 over the five years
- Talent fee starts at $1,250,000 this year and stays at that level in 2018, before ramping up to $1,400,000 in 2019, $1,895,000 in 2020, and up to $2,538,500 in 2021
- There was a signing bonus of $100,000
- There's a retention bonus of $500,000 if Wilcox is the coach through the end of the 2021 season
- Termination by the school without cause results in a payout of 100% of the talent fee and base salary for the rest of the term
- If Wilcox decides to leave for another head coaching post at various points during his tenure before the contract is up, he has to pay the school back in certain amounts (Before the end of the 2018 season: $2,695,500, before the end of the 2019 season: $1,000,000, after 2019 but before the end of the contract: $250,000)
The Incentives
Wilcox's contract with base and talent fee comes to five years and $9,583,500, which puts him as the lowest paid coach in the Pac-12, but there are multiple incentives that he can earn via the team's performance and academics.
Performance based incentives in the first two years of the contract
Wilcox gets a bonus based on how many wins he gets and who he beats, as seen below, with a cap of $900,000 in total bonuses. (These are for regular season win totals)
- 6 wins - $100,000
- 7 wins - $250,000
- 8 wins - $325,000
- 9 wins - $400,000
- 10 wins - $475,000
- 11 wins - $550,000
- 12 wins - $625,000
-Beating Stanford - $25,000
- Beating UCLA, USC or Oregon during the regular season (provided they have 6 wins or more), $10,000 for each win
- Participating in the Pac-12 championship - $50,000
- Win Pac-12 Championship - $50,000
- Participate in a New Years 6 Bowl Game- $100,000
- Participate in the National Championship Game - $100,000
- Participate in Top 2 Pac-12 Contract (non-NY6) Bowl game, i.e. Holiday or Alamo - $100,000
- Participate in Other Bowl (with 6 wins at least) - $100,000
- Participate in Other Bowl (with less than 6 wins) - up to $100,000
- Conference Coach of the Year - $50,000
- National Coach of the Year - $50,000
Performance incentive in years 3-5 of contract
- 6 wins - $25,000
- 7 wins - $125,000
- 8 wins - $200,000
- 9 wins - $275,000
- 10 wins - $350,000
- 11 wins - $425,000
- 12 wins - $500,000
-Beating Stanford - $25,000
- Beating UCLA, USC or Oregon during the regular season (provided they have 6 wins or more), $10,000 for each win
- Participating in the Pac-12 championship - $50,000
- Win Pac-12 Championship - $50,000
- Participate in a New Years 6 Bowl Game- $100,000
- Participate in the National Championship Game - $100,000
- Participate in Top 2 Pac-12 Contract (non-NY6) Bowl game, i.e. Holiday or Alamo - $75,000
- Participate in Other Bowl (with 6 wins at least) - $40,000
- Participate in Other Bowl (with less than 6 wins) - up to $25,000
- Conference Coach of the Year - $50,000
- National Coach of the Year - $50,000
Also in this section, starting after year 2 of the contract, if the team has had a season with 8+ wins (including a bowl) and the single year APR is greater than 980, the school notes that they will meet with Wilcox to potentially renegotiate the deal (i.e. extend it).
Academic Bonuses
Wilcox can earn bonuses based on GPA and APR for the team. GPA is from after the spring term, and APR is based on the four year average. Wilcox is eligible to receive the highest applicable bonus of each of these.
GPA:
- Greater than or equal to a 3.0 team GPA - $60,000
- Greater than or equal to a 2.95 team GPA - $55,000
- Greater than or equal to a 2.9 team GPA - $50,000
- Greater than or equal to a 2.85 team GPA - $45,000
- Greater than or equal to a 2.8 team GPA -$40,000
- Greater than or equal to a 2.75 team GPA - $35,000
- Greater than or equal to a 2.7 team GPA - $30,000
APR:
= 1000 team APR - $150,000
Greater than or equal to a 990 APR - $125,000
Greater than or equal to a 980 APR - $100,000
Greater than or equal to a 970 APR - $75,000
Greater than or equal to a 960 APR - $50,000
Other Perks:
Wilcox gets a courtesy car, four premium football season tickets in addition to the number of tickets he's allowed to receive under applicable departmental policy, and probably the biggest incentive of this contract, five parking passes to all home football games. He also has a membership at the Claremont Country Club.
There's also sick leave and health benefits in accordance with University rules
Assistant Coaches Salary Pool:
There was an increase in the assistant coaches salary pool, which was $2,675,600 a year ago. Here's the passage from the contract:
"A pool of $3,100,000, with 2% annual increases and averaged over a three year period, has been established as the Assistant Coaches Salary Pool as of March 1, 2017."
That's a 15.8% increase from a year ago.
Takeaway:
This is an incentive laden contract that stresses success against the main rivals, something that former head coach Sonny Dykes struggled mightily with. There's a lot of milestones that Wilcox can achieve if his group is successful right off the bat, and he has a little more latitude in who he can hire. Plus those parking passes are worth their weight in gold in Berkeley.