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The Washington State Cougars’ defensive coordinator might be new, but the salary will be the same. In his first job since leaving the Minnesota Golden Gophers following the 2016 season, Tracy Claeys is signed for the next two seasons and will make $625,000 in base salary in 2018 with a raise to $650,000 in 2019.
CougCenter obtained Claeys’ contract through a public records request with WSU.
Claeys’ pay in 2018 is what former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch was scheduled to make, but he’ll get that bump over Grinch in 2019. His contract actually runs through the summer of 2020 so expect an extension this time next year if the defense continues to play well this coming season.
Claeys’ contract comes with quite a few possible bonuses but we’ll start with the easy ones. He is eligible for two, separate $25,000 bonuses if: the defense finishes top-40 in total defense and if it finishes top-40 in scoring defense. He also gets a $5,000 bonus for a Pac-12 Championship game appearance or $10,000 for a win in the game.
Here are the big ones though: he gets a bonus of three-twenty fourths his salary (one-eighth) if WSU makes it to a New Year’s Six bowl: the Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Fiesta, Peach or Orange Bowl. In 2018, that would be worth more than $78,000. Simply appearing in any other bowl game nets Claeys a one-twelfth of his salary bonus or just over $52,000. All told, Claeys could make more than $763,000 in salary and bonuses this season.
We have attached Claeys’ full contract below (if you want to read the whole thing, the rest is pretty standard boilerplate):
Tracy Claeys Contract by Michael Preston on Scribd