Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley gives a news conference on Monday, Nov. 12, 2012, at the UT campus in Knoxville, Tenn. Dooley said that he hasn't been told whether the Volunteers plan to remove him at the end of the season, contrary to reports suggesting such a move was inevitable. (AP Photo/Knoxville News Sentinel, Michael Patrick)
In the predawn hours Friday morning, two hands shook in Lexington, Ky.
Wrapping up a meeting that kicked off at 10 p.m. Thursday, then-Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones agreed to terms with Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart.
The deal to become the Vols' new coach: $18.2 million over six years.
According to the memorandum of understanding released prior to an introductory press conference on Friday afternoon in Knoxville, Jones is due a base salary of $245,000 through 2019 along with supplemental compensations totaling $2,705,000 annually.
For putting pen to paper, Jones received a $500,000 signing bonus.
"We anticipated what it would cost to hire a coach and we came pretty close to that," UT chancellor Jimmy Cheek said after the press conference. "The package that we've put together — we anticipated parameters as we went on the search — and we hit in between the targets."
According to Cheek, the salary package was constructed by himself, athletic department CFO Bill Myers and Chris Cimino, UT's vice chancellor of finance and administration, and presented to Hart.
The MOU states Jones will be owed $2 million annually if he's fired before 2019. That figure could change based on mitigation.
Contract buyouts have been a scorn on the UT athletic department of late.
Thanks to a four-year, $5 million buyout owed to Derek Dooley, who was fired Nov. 18, Tennessee will pay approximately $17 million for two coaches through 2017.
But that's not all.
Per the contract that Jones broke with the Bearcats in order to come to Knoxville, UT is responsible for a $1.4 million payout owed to Cincinnati.
Additionally, upwards of $4.4 million is potentially owed to members of Dooley's former staff. That number depends on how quickly they find other jobs and how much those jobs pay.
All told, in a worst-case scenario for the university and its athletic department, Tennessee could face $10.8 million in buyouts alone to change regimes.
Former UT coach Phillip Fulmer's $6 million buyout from his 2008 exit will come off the books on Dec. 31.
According to Jones' MOU, if the Vols' new coach bolts by choice, the school will be owed $4 million after the first season, $3 million after the second and third seasons and $2 million the final three seasons.
On a scale of last year's university salaries in the SEC compiled by USA Today, Jones' $3 million would rank fifth in the league behind Alabama's Nick Saban ($5.3 million), LSU's Les Miles ($3.8 million), South Carolina's Steve Spurrier (3.6 million) and Auburn's Gene Chizik ($3.5 million).
Arkansas signed new coach Bret Bielema to a six-year contract worth $3.2 million annually on Wednesday.
Dooley earned $2 million last season, while Jones earned $1,575,000 at Cincinnati.
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Related:
Butch Jones' Memorandum of Understanding with Tennessee
Butch Jones press conference transcript
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Videos
Butch Jones introduced as the new head coach of the UT football team
Dave Hart answers questions about the coaching search and Butch Jones hire
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 45
Clad_In_Big_Orange writes:
Dang!
Sunshine27 writes:
That would have hired anyone we wanted!
thevoice writes:
Uh, Gene Chizik is gone, Brendan.
Orangeblood13 writes:
Better get to filling those seats
jack4444 writes:
Buyouts are the crutch of bad negotiators.
CoverOrange writes:
Riders:
1. Back to back losing seasons are grounds to cancel any or all terms of the contract.
2. Losing to both Alabama and Florida in the same year reduces the end date of the contract by one year, beating both Alabama and Florida extends it one year.
3. Any player arrest reduces the annualized contract value by $100k.
4. Any major violation of NCAA rules by any member of the staff is grounds to cancel all terms of the contract.
born2ride writes:
The Athletic Department is not contributing $18 million in academic scholarships to pay for this mess.
tennisvol writes:
Yea, thanks Hammy for the great buyout you gave ole Dooley. A coach with a record of 17-20.
volhome#407234 writes:
Those are contract riders we should all be able to agree should be on any coach's contract for UT.
Scoon writes:
They couldn't stand it!!! EVERYBODY wants to be in Lexington, KY!!!!!!!!!
CoverOrange writes:
It's Obamanomics, spend money on people to spend money so employers spend money to hire people so they spend money.
LifetimeVolFan writes:
BREAKING NEWS!!! This is a smoke screen! Jon Gruden will be announced as HC next week. Butch is simply the OC and holding down the recruiting efforts until Gruden gets here. Please don't tell anyone else about this great news until Dave Hart gets a chance to explain the rest of "THE PLAN" that Butch eluded to in the press conference today. This is GREAT NEWS Vol fans!!
.....
orangeinbama writes:
Your expertise is noted. STFU
orangeinbama writes:
We got what we needed. Stay home I dont care actually what people do. This guy is a winner. Im all ORANGE, 440 miles round trip and I will be there.We got a keeper. One of my top 4 from the beginning.
arkyvol writes:
i was never down with dooley, not for one minute. his hiring was proof positive of mike hamilton's incompetence and reeked of it from the time he was announced. jones has a record and it's not bad. count me as willing to give him a chance and hoping for the best.
CarlChilders writes:
I supported Fulmer, Kiffin, and Dooley, and I will support Jones or whoever the coach would have been. That's what real fans do. 80% of the posters so far are losers wallowing in perpetual misery. Geez, the man has been coach 9 hours! Saban's record through his first six seasons was 42-29-1, Jones 50-27.
vut5686#1405392 writes:
Factual observation. Several issues here: first, the money is public record, we are entitled to know, but the inclusion here carries a negative twist. All that money? And we reduce educational staff? And such.
What irony. Fans yell and want to fire anyone who hands out a big contract we have to eat when things go wrong. The same fans will yell and want to fire anyone who has not shelled out the big bucks when a winning coach saddles his pony and rides away. We can't have it both ways. We play our cards and take our chances.
greatdaysahead writes:
"On a scale of LAST YEAR'S UNIVERSITY SALARIES in the SEC compiled by USA Today, Jones' $3 million would rank fifth in the league behind Alabama's Nick Saban ($5.3 million), LSU's Les Miles ($3.8 million), South Carolina's Steve Spurrier (3.6 million) and Auburn's Gene Chizik ($3.5 million)."
Read just a little closer...
MikeTheVolsFan writes:
18.3 Mill over six years? Are you kidding me? Ok Vol Nation, win or lose, we have this coach for awhile! Welcome to BO country Coach Jones, and good luck with that. God Bless. Make us respectable again, and better then that I hope. Otherwise, we might as well hire...well...me...lol.
Go Vols!
racvol#234960 writes:
Send the bill to Mike Hamilton
DwayneElizondoMountainDewHerbertCamacho writes:
"According to Cheek, the salary package was constructed by himself, athletic department CFO Bill Myers and Chris Cimino, UT's vice chancellor of finance and administration, and presented to Hart."
That paragraph tells you all you need to know as to why our football team and athletics in general have suffered under Cheek. Academics is running athletics...straight into the ground and somewhere Susan Martin is giggling at this hire.
tmcretired writes:
The correct thing is back the coach bad hires happen he has a winning record, we hired Obama with his record.I'm just saying. GO VOLS and Good luck coach
oldvoltimer62 writes:
Cheeks and Hamilton should be investigated and Cheeks should be thrown off the hill.No way a Chancellor should have let this have happened,unless he was in on it too.Costing the university millions in useless contracts.Hamilton,Dooley made out like a thief in the nightand putting the burden on the insitution and students and the fans.I say hang "em all.
lafollette37766 writes:
If UT raises ticket prices like I hear they are gonna do may not be able to afford the ticket to fill the seats. It is already expensive enough at current prices.
MikeTheManHamiltan writes:
But tall guy, you are the one who hired me. So the first domino in the chain is always to blame.
And why did you stick all that gum up under our desk?
Colts_VolFan writes:
IMO a Quality coach and a fortunate hire. If he truly passed up other jobs in the hope of getting an offer from TN, that speaks volumes to me. If he has a couple good recruiting seasons then everything else will fall into place.
bigdisbig writes:
And how do you know this? Do you know Butch Jones personally and how he will run the team? Do you know his recruiting tactics?
Do you know that Les Miles was not a great coach when he came to LSU?
I agree that its not a great hire but at least give the guy a chance. He has much better credentials than Dooley and at least HE WANTED TO COME COACH THE VOLS.
tcg#1384489 writes:
Dereck Dooley cost Tennessee money.
Butch Jones will make Tennessee money.
AllforTenn writes:
So nice that you are willing to give him a chance. He probably couldn't sleep at night if you weren't.
rtrchatt writes:
UTAD reminds me of our federal govt. Spend all the money you need and worry about paying the bills later.
John_10065 writes:
I am just shocked that contract is that long. I could see 4 or 5 years with a option but through 2019?
MikeNPS writes:
What's even worse is that Hammy received a package when he left. Outrageous. Absolutely outrageous.
arkyvol writes:
i hate this byline, putting jones and dooley in the same basket. jones is an investment, something that has a chance to pay off. dooley is swampland in florida that you put your life savings in.
6972 writes:
I wouldn't count on DD being hired anytime soon.
It looks like we might be paying him a long time. Besides, why work when you are raking in $120k a month.
edee writes:
It makes me sick to see Hart standing there smiling..makes me think of the cat that just swallowed the canary. Ouote "I knew after 20 minutes Jones was the guy for the job." Dave Hart......He must have been in STUPIDVILLE the first 18 days.
VolunteerLifer writes:
Wrong headline, Quinn. It should read "Mike Hamilton costs UT $17 Million."
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
OKEMO-RON has spoken..
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
Or, Gruden saved us about 50 million.
reg_mza#219136 writes:
Well you wanted him gone, here are the repercussions. Oh well, it is what it is, get used to it.
LibertyVolance writes:
I think so, too. Gruden was never real. I like Jones over everyone else we looked at. Better than the other 3 sec new hires.
SummittsCourt writes:
If you are wrong, which I am sure you are, will you promise to go away forever.
Rock85 writes:
Your bout as funny as Cheek eating the NOSE NUGGET..
Rock85 writes:
Thats OLD SCHOOL Sports Drive... TONY B!!!! YOOOOSHIIIEEE HEEE HOOO!!!
sly_stone99#434111 writes:
Before judging or without would it not be better to view his body of work at UT first then critique him?
VOLtage writes:
We could of gotten Belichick for 17 million.
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