What’s in a deal? Well when it comes to college football coaches, quite a bit. They’re often among the highest paid employees in a given state and their contracts are lengthy documents that can easily run over 20 pages long. CBS Sports went under the hood for the 2025 class of new coaches to dig into the quirks, incentives, and structures of these deals.
Of this year’s new coaches: Rice, Tulsa, Wake Forest, and Stanford are private and therefore not subject to public records requests. Temple declined to share KC Keeler’s contract. Mark Carney is head coach at Kent State in an interim capacity with a search planned for a full-time coach later this fall, and Jacksonville State did not respond with Charles Kelly’s contract as of publication.
The rub: We don’t want cupcakes
It’s not rare for a coach at a Group of Five school to have an incentive around winning a game against a Power Four conference opponent — which Loggins’ term sheet includes at $20,000. But the deal also includes a $20,000 bonus for playing a power conference opponent in the first place. The Mountaineers play Oregon State this year, NC State in 2026 and South Carolina in 2027.
The rub: Tell us before you talk to a search firm
While there are many layers of plausible deniability between a coach and a job he wants, schools do go to some lengths to protect themselves. Many of the contracts and term sheets CBS Sports reviewed had a version of the language Uremovich’s deal has: “coach shall inform the director of athletics prior to engaging in any discussion or negotiation regarding any other coaching opportunity with a representative of (or search firm for) another institution of higher education or professional team.”
An agent told CBS that specifically calling out search firms is a bit uncommon in a clause like this and that it’s “It’s probably a result of an AD feeling like their guy was poached in the past and the agent was using the search firm as a liaison.”
The rub: Thoughts on playing your old team?
George was the second-to-last coach hired in the 2025 cycle when he was named head of Bowling Green’s program in March, therefore it’s no surprise he’s not working under a finalized contract, but rather a memorandum of understanding. This is not at all uncommon, and some coaches can work multiple months under a MOU.
Most interestingly: George’s MOU states that Tennessee State is owed an amount up to $500,000 still to be negotiated, but the amount can be lessened if Bowling Green schedules a game with Tennessee State. Bowling Green confirmed to CBS Sports that George’s full contract is not yet finalized, including the section related to the buyout owed to his previous employer.
The rub: Show up to the press conference — or else
You always want to win the press conference as a first year coach, and that starts with attending it in the first place. In Drinkall’s letter of agreement with Central Michigan, signed Dec. 8, a clause states that if he didn’t do a press conference on the 9th or the 10th of the month he was subject to a $500,000 fine to be paid to the school — much more than his $415,000 base salary.
The first week for any new coach is busy, but Drinkall’s was more than most considering it was the week of the Army-Navy game where the then-Black Knights assistant was scheduled to be on the sideline. The presser went as scheduled, and Drinkall kept his money in his pocket.
The rub: It’s tough to make a bowl; excel in the classroom
It’s industry standard for coaches to have incentives tied to their program’s work in the classroom. Some schools tie it directly to team GPA; others use the NCAA’s metric called the Academic Progress Rate. Charlotte went the APR route with Albin’s contract. He would earn $25,000 for a multi-year APR of 960 or higher.
However: If the metric, which has been tweaked over the years, were to cease to exist, Albin’s incentive for an at-large bowl selection would increase from $75,000 to $100,000. Charlotte has made one bowl game in its 10-year FBS history, so this counts as a good piece of negotiating by Albin and his agent.
The rub: Get ranked
As a reminder that MOU’s are not finished contracts, Harrell’s MOU states that if the Pirates were ranked by the CFP selection committee immediately following the national championship game, he would earn a $50,000 bonus. The one slight technicality there is that the selection committee does not rank teams after the championship game, they merely set the field before the Playoff begins.
According to a source with knowledge of Harrell’s contract, the language has been updated to line up with how the committee actually ranks teams in the longform version of his contract.
The rub: Ever worked in IT support?
One of the oddest quirks of any head coaching contract is in deals that FAU signs with its head coaches which state that the school can reassign a head coach to another position in the university as long as it does not include manual labor and can let him work remotely. It seems humorous on its face, but FAU actually did this to former head coach Willie Taggart, when he was assigned to the school’s facilities department after being relieved of his duties as head coach.
Charles Huff’s deal with Southern Miss and Dan Mullen’s deal with UNLV specifically say they cannot be reassigned to any other department in the athletic department.
FIU: Willie Simmons
The rub: Get along with your boss
The relationship between a head coach and an athletic director is of the utmost importance, but FIU makes sure Simmons and his boss are on good terms with a clause that states:
“University and head coach agree and recognize the highest level of respect, trust, confidence and cooperation must exist between Head coach and the FIU Athletic Director …[Simmons, and FIU] will conduct themselves in a manner to assure a relationship of mutual respect, trust, confidence and cooperation in connection with the management and operation of the athletic programs.”
Coaches have broken bad with school administration in the past when Butch Davis blasted university leadership on his way out of the job in 2021.
The rub: Nail your performance review
As far as creative ways to put a little extra money in your coaches’ pocket, Fresno State has an interesting one. Entz’s employee evaluation clause means he will earn $100,000 if his 2025 performance review is “satisfactory or better” and the program avoids and NCAA sanction or major violation connected to employee misconduct. There’s likely a verbal understanding that the performance review will go just fine.
The rub: Get butts in seats
Eck has an incentive in his deal tied to ticket sales increases year over year. A climb 15% earns $15,000; 25% earns $25,000 and 50% earns $50,000. The contract stipulates that half of the bonus goes to Eck and the other half goes back into the operating budget for football.
The rub: Get out there and rub elbows
Fundraising is still a key part of a head coach’s job, whether it’s meeting with donors or the annual offseason speaking tours. First-time head coach Jerry Mack has a sweetener in his deal which states that he’s eligible for a $5,000 bonus for participating in fundraising activities resulting in donations of $50,000 to the school’s athletic department. Mack must demonstrate that the donations are specifically attributed to his efforts.
The rub: Can you pack your own moving boxes?
In a one-page MOU obtained by CBS Sports, Gibson was allowed $15,000 to cover the moving costs from Raleigh, North Carolina to Huntington, West Virginia and 30 days of housing provided by the school near campus during the transition. Relocation compensation is standard, but the amounts vary widely, and Gibson’s number is on the low end, as anybody who has relocated or moved can attest. Appalachian State head coach Dowell Loggains is afforded $30,000, while Purdue’s Barry Odom is afforded $50,000 and 90 days of temporary lodging. Bill Belichick gets $100,000.
Rich Rodriguez received 90 days of temporary housing in Morgantown at $5,000 per month and a $100,000 stipend to cover his move. However, if he leaves WVU within the first year of the execution of his contract, it stipulates he must repay that plus the $1.25 million the school paid Jacksonville State to buy him out of his contract with the Gamecocks.
North Carolina: Bill Belichick
The rub: The most famous buyout cliff in college football
Of course, Belichick’s contract initially had a $10 million buyout if he left for another job, but the number wasn’t permanent. On June 1, the number dropped to $1 million — paving the way for a relatively easy move back to the NFL if a franchise deems him worthy and allowing him to chase Don Shula’s all-time wins record.
The rub: Keep the train on the tracks
The Standard is high in Athens. If Smith can get the Bobcats to eight wins during the regular season, his contract is automatically extended by one year. The Bobcats have achieved that routinely over the last 20 years since Frank Solich took over including each of the last three seasons.
Purdue: Barry Odom
The rub: Can you get us back to winning ways?
While most coaches have an incentive structure tied to fixed dollar amounts ($25,000 for a bowl appearance, for instance) Purdue works off of what the contract refers to as a performance bonus base of $1.5 million. From there, Odom can earn, for instance, 40% of that amount for winning the national championship ($600,000), or 10% for winning the Big Ten ($150,000).
The rub: At least you get unlimited texting
It’s normal for a coach to carry two phones on him, one for personal and another for official business. Longo is afforded $50 a month for a monthly cell phone allowance. This number also varies widely. Ball Sate’s Mike Uremovich gets $110 a month, while ECU’s Blake Harrell gets $130 per month.
Southern Miss: Charles Huff
The rub: You don’t have to ask for another year
Huff’s four-year deal includes an automatic extension by one year unless the contract is terminated by either parties before Dec. 8, 2025. While it is effectively a five-year deal, this language likely exists due to a Mississippi law prohibiting state employees signing contracts longer than four years. Mississippi State and Ole Miss work around the law differently by signing their coaches to contracts with their school’s athletic foundations.
UCF: Scott Frost
The rub: Do what you do
UCF has multiple performance incentives that earn Frost $25,000 if his team achieves a top 20 FBS ranking in a specific stat category. According to an executive summary of Frost’s contract, the categories are:
- explosive running plays
- explosive passing plays
- offensive yards per play
- lowest percentage of explosive running plays
- lowest percentage of explosive passing plays
- lowest yards per play allowed
- scoring offense
- scoring defense
UCF clarified that it defines explosive plays as running plays of 12-plus yards, and passing plays of 15-plus yards. When Frost was last at UCF in 2017, the Knights were one of the most explosive offenses in football.
UMass: Joe Harasymiak
The rub: A commitment to diversity
In the wake of multiple states and the federal government walking back provisions around diversity equity and inclusion, Harasymiak’s agreement with UMass goes the opposite direction, enshrining in it that he will “be committed to cultivating a culture that embraces diversity, enquiry and inclusion. Harasymiak shall strive to recruit and retain student-athletes and employees with multifaceted backgrounds, skillsets, and passions.”
UMass in the past has been a leader in college football regarding inclusive initiatives, including hosting a yearly Pride Day at one home game annually in partnership with the school’s on campus LGBTQIA research center.
UNLV: Dan Mullen
The rub: This buyout has a big catch
There’s a common refrain when a coach gets fired from a job and resurfaces quickly in a new role: Why not just sit on the beach and do nothing with all that buyout money? Part of the answer lies in the workaholic nature of football coaches, but the other lies in a common clause like the one found in Dan Mullen’s contract with UNLV which states that Mullen must make “reasonable and diligent efforts to obtain employment” in order to offset the buyout owed to him in the event the Rebels fire him in the future.
Mullen must actively seek a head coach or assistant coaching job, consulting job or a “sports related position” with a media entity. Some contracts states the buyout is decreased by whatever the coach’s new salary is. Mullen’s deal states that if he gets another job, UNLV’s financial obligations cease. It’s a good move for UNLV as we know Mullen would have no trouble finding work in the media space.
The rub: Beat our rivals … if you can play them
Eck earns $5,000 for each win in a rivalry game against either BYU or Utah. Currently, the Aggies only have the Utes on the schedule twice between now and 2031.
The rub: You can enjoy your layovers in style
Rogers may not have private plane usage in his contract like some coaches do (25 hours a year for Bill Belichick, 30 for Barry Odom) but Rogers does get complimentary access to Alaska Airlines lounges for the airline, which is ubiquitous on the west coast.
West Virginia: Rich Rodriguez
The rub: The world-class golf is on us
They might not have much time to take advantage of them, but coaches routinely have country club memberships included in their contracts. Several coaches from this year’s cycle, including Bill Belichick at Chapel Hill Country Club, received such a perk. Rodriguez’s deal doesn’t directly name a club, but says that the university will provide him a family membership to a club which will presumably be named later.
Nearby Pikewood National, which is invite-only, is one of the best courses in the country and would be a smart choice for Rodriguez — but Rodriguez’s contract does state he has to cover food and beverage charges.
Betting big on program legends: Why West Virginia, UCF called on Rich Rodriguez, Scott Frost to recreate magic
Shehan Jeyarajah
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