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HOT COUGAR ACTION: A Closer Look At Mike Leach's Contract

When Mike Leach was announced as the Washington State head coach, we all heard the numbers. Five years, $11 mllion, but it turns out there are some nifty bonuses and other interesting notes from his contract. The Tacoma News Tribune has the details, let's take a closer look at some of the more interesting parts.

Before we get to the bonuses, there is an important piece of information buried near the bottom of the story. Leach's contract has a provision that rolls the contract over every season, so he will always have five years remaining. Essentially, it's a built in yearly one-year extension which either Leach or WSU can opt out of. The story also has the details of Leach's buyout.

If Leach chose to leave WSU before completing the first five years of the contract, he would owe the school $2,250,000 less $450,000 for each year he coaches until there would be no cost to Leach after five years.

If Leach would be "terminated without cause," he would be owed 60 percent ($1.2 million) of his base annual salary of $2 million for each year remaining on his contract.

Now for the fun stuff, first Leach's contract perks:

  • 12 seat suite at Martin Stadium.
  • An additional 20 tickets to every home game.
  • Two courtesy vehicles.
  • A membership to a country club or health club
  • The right to distribute proceeds from WSU football camps however he likes.
Easy enough. Some tickets, a couple of Enterprise Rent-A-Car's and some guest passes to the rec. Done. Now let's move onto the bonuses. Craig already broke down what Leach could buy in Pullman, but if he has any success he can buy even more!
  • $200,000 for a BCS title game appearance.
  • $100,000 for a Pac-12 title game victory.
  • $100,000 for a BCS bowl appearance that isn't the national title game.
  • $100,000 for finishing in the top 10 in any of the four major polls.
  • $75,000 for a non BCS bowl appearance.
  • $50,000 for winning the Pac-12 North Division.
  • $50,000 for finishing in the top 25 poll.
  • $50,000 for winning a national coach of the year award.
  • $25,000 for winning Pac-12 coach of the year.
  • $25,000 for winning the Apple Cup.
By my math, Leach could earn an extra $600,000 if he hit all of the incentives in one season. That is a lot of super baskets.

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