Cal men's basketball head coach Mark Fox was officially announced on April 1st, and his contract has finally been executed and released via a Freedom of Information Act request. Chancellor Carol Christ signed off on the contract on Friday July 19th, and the contract retroactively applies from that April 1st, 2019 start date.
The Basics
- This is a five-year deal, spanning from April 1st, 2019 until March 31st, 2024
- The base pay is set at $275,000 a year through the five year deal
- The talent fee ramps up from year to year (A talent fee is for coaches speaking at booster function, pregame and postgame TV and radio shows, other university and alumni functions, and so on). That structure is as follows:
Year 1: $1.225 million
Year 2: $1.3 million
Year 3: $1.375 million
Year 4: $1.45 million
Year 5: $1.525 million
This, along with the base pay, combines to $8.25 million over 5 years, or an average of $1.65 million a year. This number ranks 11th among current Pac-12 coaches, only higher than new Washington State head coach Kyle Smith.
Bonuses
There's a handful of bonus terms for Fox, first the performance bonuses, which have a couple caveats. First, in order to receive them, Cal's four year APR has to be over 930. Second, the bonuses stack, but have a limit of $300,000 a year total between performance and academic bonuses
If:
Cal wins or is a co-champion of the Pac-12 in the regular season: $30,000
Cal wins the Pac-12 Tournament: $20,000
Cal wins 20 games: $10,000
Cal makes the NCAA Tournament: $20,000
Cal makes the round of 32: $25,000
Cal makes the Sweet Sixteen: $30,000
Cal makes the Elite Eight: $40,000
Cal makes the Final Four: $50,000
Cal wins the NCAA Championship $75,000
Fox is selected as Pac-12 Coach of the Year: $20,000
Fox is selected as National Coach of the year: $25,000
- There's also GPA and APR bonuses that Fox can earn, though the $300,000 bonus limit applies:
If Cal has a team GPA greater than or equal to:
3.0: $50,000
2.85: $40,000
2.7: $20,000
If Cal has an APR greater than or equal to:
985: $45,000
975: $30,000
960: $15,000
Cal's current APR sits at 961.
There's also a couple other bonuses here:
- A hiring bonus of $100,000
- Two retention bonuses of $250,000 if Fox makes it through January 1st of 2022 and 2024 respectively
- A courtesy vehicle assigned to the coach
- A country club membership of the coach's choice
Buyout Structure
Cal's contract with Mark Fox has two buyout scenarios, depending if Fox is fired without cause or Fox leaves for another coaching job.
If Fox is Fired without cause:
This is a section unlike others signed at Cal in recent memory, as Fox's contract isn't fully guaranteed at the start with his buyout, but becomes fully guaranteed after the third year of his contract. If Mark Fox is fired without cause, Cal owes him:
- 100% of his base salary and talent fee for the remainder of the contract year
- 100% for the next contract year
- 75% for the next contract year
- 50% for the next contract year, and
- 25% for the next contract year
This buyout would be mitigated through Fox getting a job at another school in this scenario, which would offset some of this money
Fox leaves for another job:
There's a buyout if Fox wants to leave for a different coaching job, with the buyout scaling down as follows.
If Fox leaves before a specific date, he has to pay the school back in these numbers:
April 30th, 2020: $3 million
Between April 30th, 2020 and April 30th, 2021: $2 million
Between April 30th, 2021 and April 30th, 2022: $1 million
Between April 30th, 2022 and April 30th, 2023: $500,000
