Kentucky men’s basketball head coach John Calipari received an eight-year contract worth a total of $36.5 million plus the opportunity for performance-based incentives, UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart announced Monday.
Calipari’s base salary for each year will be $400,000. He will get a guaranteed $3.4 million for media/endorsements, and will get at least $1 million for retention in six of the eight years (2011-12 and 2015-16 will not). That brings his guaranteed money to $4.8 million in five years, $3.8 million in two years, and $4.9 million in the final year (the retention value is $1.1 million that year).
Calipari’s incentives include: $50,000 for a regular season SEC championship, $50,000 for an SEC Tournament championship, $100,000 for the Sweet 16, $100,000 for the Elite Eight, $150,000 for the Final Four, and $350,000 for winning the Championship.
Calipari’s eight-year deal will coincide with the end of Barnhart’s own contract.
“Cal and I are the same age and share some of the same thoughts on our careers and I wanted to align his contract with my current eight-year deal,” Barnhart said. “He worked with us during this process and clearly demonstrated that he wants to be at Kentucky for a long time.”
Added outgoing President Lee Todd: “Aligning his contract with that of Mitch Barnhart creates the potential for long-term continuity in an athletics program that is performing and winning both on the court and in the classroom.”
The deal’s salary was described by ESPN’s Andy Katz as essentially pricing Calipari out of the NBA market, because contracts on this scale aren’t typical for coaches anymore.
“We evened out his yearly compensation without adding to his base salary,” Barnhart said. “We were able to move some longevity bonuses around that were already in the contract, and added some longevity bonuses in the later years of his contract to demonstrate that we want him here for a long time. We also agreed to restructure the bonus money in a fair format where success dictates the bonuses. If we reach the levels of success for Cal to receive these bonuses, we will certainly generate the revenue necessary to allocate these funds.”