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New UT head coach, Lane Kiffin, talks about his experience and growing up learning the game. Watch »
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New UT head coach, Lane Kiffin, talks about his experience recruiting and what his plan is for UT recruitment. Watch »
CONTRACT INFO
Lane Kiffin signed a six-year agreement Sunday morning that averages $2.375 million dollars a year. Here’s how it breaks down:
Annual Compensation
2009 $2 million
2010 $2.15 million
2011 $2.3 million
2012 $2.45 million
2013 $2.6 million
2014 $2.75 million
Buyout
Termination by Kiffin UT
2009 $1 million $7.5 million
2010 $800,000 $7.5 million
2011 $600,000 $6.25 million
2012 $400,000 $6.25 million
2013 $200,000 $5 million
2014 N/A $5 million
Performance Bonuses
- Non-BCS bowl: $40,000
- SEC East (tie): $40,000
- Academic performance*: $40,000
- SEC coach of the year: $50,000+
- National coach of the year: $50,000+
- SEC Championship game appearance: $80,000
- SEC Championship: $120,000
- BCS bowl: $120,000
- BCS Championship game appearance: $160,000
- First-place AP or USA Today final ranking: $160,000
- BCS national championship: $280,000
* Football team must have an APR of 925 or higher; + To be distributed to football staff by head coach
Source: University of Tennessee
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 39
blitzshoot writes:
Good luck coach Kiffen. I hope you make every bonus every year!
gohawks1 writes:
- SEC coach of the year: $50,000+
- National coach of the year: $50,000+
Plus what?
jobrando#216494 writes:
Shoul be one for each victory over Alabama, Florida, Georgia
BigOrangeinCharge writes:
OK, so if Kiffin gets himself canned within his first 4 years, he gets more than Fulmer did after 17 and a national championship? Does anyone else not think this is right, especially in light of how he forced Oakland to fire him so he could get a huge buy out from them, too?
The salary and buy outs look like fair market value for a UT coach, but those buy out figures are insane! Especially with his history!
gohawks1 writes:
Don't believe that's possible, blitz. He can't take us to a BCS bowl and a non-BCS bowl at the same time. But I know what you mean, brother... take us to the top, coach!
thevoice writes:
He basically makes $1 mil extra for NC. Guess we know how important academics are. lol I'm still surprised UT gave me a diploma after barely escaping engineering school.
rockytopjeff writes:
And everyone complained about Coach Fulmers' 6 Million Dollar buyout? This guy can get fired in 4 years and still gets 5 Million? I hope he is the greatest coach we ever see, but seems Hamilton made a dumb decision as far as a buyout goes. Let's all just hope he is as good of a recruiter as he was at USC. We ended up with the 4th ranked defense in the country (Rivals.com) and he didn't even CONSIDER keeping Chavis. Makes me think Monte is coming for sure. I hope Chavis doesn't go somewhere like LSU or Georgia. With the talent they have recruited in the last couple of years, he could be SCARY for the rest of the SEC. Happy Holidays All and GO VOLS!!!
blitzshoot writes:
Good point. LOL.
The only thing about a new coach, especially at his age, if he is a hit, he becomes a hot commodity quick. If not, we do this again in a few.
Just part of the business I guess.
blitzshoot writes:
BigOrange, I am not positive, but I believe the number you are looking at is what he would have to pay UT to break the contract. I believe that is why it decreases as each year passes. JMO.
cuttslam#649964 writes:
I think the "+" refers to a footnote.
LifetimeVolFan98 writes:
The "+" means he will take that bonus and distribute it to his coaching staff
crparker21 writes:
I'll take my chances with Chavis going somewhere else. Good Offenses will continue to pick him apart while he feasts on the bad teams in the league. We played 3 offenses that were in the top 30 in scoring offense. Wyoming(120), Miss. St.(117), Auburn(111), UCLA (108), Vanderbilt (104), South Carolina(91), Kentucky (86), Northern Ill. (64). Those are some top flight offenses we went up against. Don't give Chavis too much credit. Like I said the good offenses normally beat him.
RollingUpMySleeves writes:
I love it. Go ahead Youngin.
Waldorf writes:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Glad there is someone else out there who understand this other than me.
BigOrangeinCharge writes:
No, the first set of numbers is what Kiffin pays UT to leave:
2009 $1 million
2010 $800,000
2011 $600,000
2012 $400,000
2013 $200,000
2014 N/A
The second set is what UT must pay Kiffin if they fire him in the next 6 years. So to get rid of him at any time before his contract is up it'll cost at least $5 million. And this comes less than 2 months after he just forced Oakland to pay him a huge buyout to leave a job he didn't want and was intentionally sabatoging games to lose (76 yard field goals, anyone?). Given that history, this is one thing I DO NOT LIKE!!!
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
all along have totally agreed with what you state here with specific rankings---his high national ranking is distorted because the collective ranking of the offenses we faced may have been as low as anyones---it has come primarily against absolutely horrible/as bad as us offenses---still good luck to Chavis and thanks for his work here
9krpms writes:
Seems fair enough, but I agree, what UT pays on the buyout after 4 years is too high. After 4 years he's working with his players in a system that has been in place for 4 years... we should have dropped the buyout to like 2 Mil the last two years. Outside of that, when you consider tuberville will clear a cool 3.5 Mil next year. It's a fair deal IMO.
gohawks1 writes:
cuttslam#649964, Scotty_Hopson32, LifetimeVolFan98:
Thanks for the explanation, guys - I see it now. By the way, I wonder why National Coach of the Year doesn't pay more than SEC Coach of the Year. Any thoughts on that one?
Bufforange00 writes:
seems like a bright, dynamic young guy. excitement is contagious. i'll bet kiff pulls a few rabbits out of his hat before signing day.
FlaVol2 writes:
Good luck Coach Kiffen. We will be pulling for you.
abrown#232236 writes:
In retrospect, UF and Bama beat LSU, Florida, UGA, Auburn as badly as they thrashed us. There's no excuse for the level of ineptitude of our offense, but an interesting note that we were far from the only team abused by those two.
p.s. -- BTW -- how 'bout the little Kiffin wifey there? Sportin' the little black dress at 7 months -- impressive.
BigOrangeVol writes:
Only 53% think this was a good hire.
imw8n4u writes:
Don't know why they even talk about his pay years 2 - X, they re-negotiate these contracts every year anyway. If he does good out of the gate, guarantee this "contract" gets thrown out and his pay jumps to near $3M.
blitzshoot writes:
Okay, I see. the first time I looked at it the copy was muddled. I agree, the UT buyouts are out there.
Just imagine if UT has to find another coach and he has a buyout to leave to come to UT, that will also be brought into the mix. Getting ahead of ourselves, but it does seem unbalanced.
allVolinGA writes:
How much would it cost to send Mikey to negotiation school to learn about buyouts? Looks like he wants to bankrupt the athletics department.
It is doubtful Haslem and Thunder would personally pony up for a non-TN guy unless he is really bad. Such buyout numbers should only be considered after a person has proven himself in the job he has. Plus, there should be a more balanced amount between the buyout if the coach leaves and the buyout if fired.
But I do think that if Kiffin doesn't work out, Fulmer will be back--taking Hamilton's place when he is tarred and feathered for agreeing to such ridiculous buyouts.
Wonder what the buyout is in Hamilton's contract?
BigOrangeinCharge writes:
This contract is one big monument to Hamilton's ego. With a couple of strokes of the pen, he's eliminated all the longstanding would-be threats to his power in the athletic department and insured that "his guy" is going to be running the football program for at least 4 years, and probably the full 6.
Even if Kiffin bombs for 2 or 3 years while he learns to be HC, it'll cost UT too much to fire him after they just dumped Fulmer. Then if LK gets the Vols just back up to mediocrity in the second half of the contract, Hamilton can say it was all Fulmer's fault for leaving the program in bad shape and that his man should get credit for "rebuilding" it.
The relatively low buyout figures on Kiffin's end also tells me that, irrespective of what he said in the press conference today, he wants to be able to jump ship (or at least use that threat as leverage for a raise) if someone else comes calling with a bigger paycheck.
Hamilton must be feeling invincible right now. He knows that if he goes, Bruce Pearl will go too and take UT basketball with him. All of his main rivals in the athletic department have been run off, except maybe Pat Summitt. We're stuck with Kiffin for the next 6 years even if Hamilton were to get canned, so he probably doubts he could ever be fired over that.
With all the rumors of Bill Callahan coming in as an OC under Kiffin, let's remember that Hamilton's former right hand man, Steve Pederson, was the one who insisted on bringing in the "genius" Callahan to totally remake the Nebraska program into the pass happy NFL-wannabe team that Pederson wanted to watch. There are a lot of parallels and connections with the Nebraska situation, right down to the hiring of a recently fired Raiders head coach!
Let's just hope that neither Hamilton or Kiffin ever formally enters politics.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Sad but true.
We used to always skate thru Nov's little sisters of the poor until the Johnsons and Brooks came along. We steered that course right into the ditch.
Maybe Kiffin will get us a Little-type LB.
House is cleaned.
jasonn1970 writes:
My only gripe with the contract is Kiffen's buyout to leave for another job should be much closer to UT's buyout to fire him.
Orange4life writes:
Hey Pdhuff, how they get a copy of your salary? lol
looks like a mirror image
pdhuff#552644 writes:
If you only knew how many cans a geezer had to pick up to maintain that life style!
Must stay in the elite circles however.
The "Joneses" are always getting something newer and better.
I say more power to Kiffin and ready to get started back up the food chain.
asleep#212036 writes:
A big old sloppy wet kiss from Hammy.
asleep#212036 writes:
Defense was even better than that! We gave up almost 50 points when our defense either wasn't on the field (punt and int. returns, fumbles) or gave up less than a first down and a subsequent field goal. Over 12 games, that would have dropped our scoring average into single digits. In addition, a decent offense would have given our opponents 3-4 fewer possessions per game, also lowering our total (and possibly scoring) defensive numbers as well. Yep, if Chavis wasn't even considered, no doubt there is a hoss out there and I can't imagine it's anyone else but Monte. And did I read it wrong or does he get a buyout at the end (2014)? Surely that's a misprint - you don't get a buyout when the contract naturally expires.... right? Must mean if they fire him before or during the final season but it's a bit confusing. Go Vols!!!!
asleep#212036 writes:
Actually, considering how many folks there are who think Fulmer should still be the coach, along with the number of big names we heard tossed around (Kelly, Leach, Davis, Cowher, Gruden, etc...) that number seems pretty strong. Kind of like winning an election with 5-6 folks in the field and you got over 50%. I'll bet if we beat Florida or Alabama next year, the percentage jumps to over 80!! Go Vols!!!
asleep#212036 writes:
Interesting perspective. I don't think Kiffin will bomb but it does seem that Mikey has taken care of himself pretty well in the deal. Of course, to be fair, sometimes you are willing to take some chances for the right guy, even to the point of handcuffing yourself down the road, if you are completely convinced that it won't be necessary. Obviously, despite Hamilton's accolades, Kiffin must have been the only one of the top candidates who both wanted the job and we were willing to pay. By putting all the big money in the bonuses and buyouts, he's betting he won't need to be fired and if he wins, we got performance at a bargain price in the SEC. Of course, if he wins, the contract will be renegotiated upward but so what, we started low with plenty of upside relative to the other winning coaches in our conference. Yes, Hammy is a slick one, to be sure.
Callahan scares me to death, as does some of the nepotism. Your dad, brother-in-law, and possibly your brother as well? OK, if this goes south, what a mess for Lane and therefore, the Vols. Yikes! Go Vols!!!
BigOrangeinCharge writes:
LOL. Nice!
serenehunter#668900 writes:
Kiffin talking to himself" Hell yeah I'll take the job I'll have a boss who throws money around like it's play money.I can't lose . If they fire me I'll get all that easy money from the buyout . This A.D. is a real joker!"
Madkels writes:
I should have been an attorney/agent. These stupid contracts make no sense in the real world. What has happened to our nation. We pay people based on what we HOPE they will do versus what they actually DO. Look at MLB players salaries. Heck, the automobile industry pays people to stay home or gives them a year salary to "retire" early. Why not set up a "Payplan" that is based on wins, graduation rates, final rankings, SEC east championships, SEC championships, BCS bowls and championships. I wish my employer would give me a crazy guarantee but my pay is based on PRODUCTION/PROFIT!
Now that's off my chest, go make your money Coach!
gwh1947 writes:
Why isn't the academic bonus larger. These students education is of top most importance.
VolunteerPassion writes:
If we only knew...
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