Who has the sweeter deal, Doeren or Fedora?
Larry Fedora got a new contract extension from UNC on Thursday, aimed at keeping him in Chapel Hill through at least 2022. Dave Doeren's last extension came back in 2015 and locks him up through 2019.
Because everything's rivalry fodder, I thought it'd be fun to compare the contracts of the two Triangle rivals. (Duke's David Cutcliffe works at a private school, so he didn't want in on this party).
BASE SALARY
Dave Doeren:
$840k/year through 2019*
Larry Fedora:
$460k this season
$525k in 2018
$600k in 2019-2022
*Doeren's contract can be extended if, in any contract season, his team wins 8 games (1 additional year) or 10 games (2 additional) years. With back to back seven-win seasons, this has not been triggered.
Advantage: Doeren
Base salary of course is just the breadcrumbs of most any Power 5 conference coach's contract. The real fun starts with...
SUPPLEMENTAL COMPENSATION
Dave Doeren:
$1.36M/year
This again is just a starting number. The beauty of Dave's contract is in the bonuses. Within his supplemental compensation are kickers aimed at incentivizing winning (what a concept!). Doeren's 1.36 million gets juiced by $100k if the Pack wins eight games, $200k if the Pack wins 9 and a whopping $400k if they get to 10 wins. That money is payable toward his next season's supplemental compensation. To illustrate, say State won 10 games the next two years running. Instead of $1.36M, he's pulling $2.16M in supplemental income in 2019 and because of the year kickers earlier explained, will have earned four additional years on his contract. (Probably moot, as Debbie Yow or her successor would tear up his deal and start anew with something much fatter)
Larry Fedora:
$1.78M in 2017
$2M in 2018
$2.3M in 2019
$2.4M from 2020-2022
Advantage: Fedora. Gimme that guaranteed money.
BONUSES
Here's where it really gets good. I'll start with the similarities.
Both Fedora and Doeren earn the same bonuses for:
Winning their Division: $100k
Appearing in a New Year's Six Bowl: $100k
That's it. That's the list. From there, things skew quite dramatically:
Playing in small bowl: Fedora $50k Doeren $25k
Winning the ACC: Fedora $100k Doeren $200k
Making the CFB Playoff: Fedora $200k Doeren $250k
Making the CFB Title Game: Fedora $200k Doeren $300k
Winning the National Title: Fedora $200k Doeren $500k
Fedora can claim additional bonuses for winning ACC Coach of the Year ($25k) and National Coach of the Year ($50k). Plus - he gets an annual expense account of $50k to be used at his discretion to further the football program.
Doeren can earn additional bonuses for finishing in the Top 25 of the Final CFP Poll ($50k) and even better, the Top 15 ($100k). He also gets bonuses for winning 8 games ($50k), 9 games ($100k), 10 games ($150k), 11 games ($200K), or gasp, 12 games ($250k). Coupled with the win incentives in his base and supplemental compensation, the message is clear: WIN.
All of these on-field bonuses for both coaches are cumulative, so they can be massive sums. Fedora's max amount of bonuses he can earn is $900k. For Doeren, that number is $1.05M.
Advantage: Doeren
But wait, there's more, and this is where the Fedora and Doeren luxury sedans (Doeren provided with two by the school) really take different paths...
ACADEMICS
Larry Fedora has one bonus he can earn tied to academics. He gets $50k if the UNC Football team's APR (Academic Progress Rate) exceeds 960. That's it.
Dave Doeren on the other hand, can make an additional $700k in bonuses related to the academics of his team!
In order:
- $50k if his football team exceeds the national average for football teams in the multi-year Federal Graduation Rate (FGR)
- $100k if his football team's FGR is in the top 50% of football teams among the ACC's public institutions
- $50k if his football team exceeds the national average for football teams in the multi-year Graduation Success Rate (GSR)
- $100k if his football team's GSR is in the top 50% of football teams among the ACC's public institutions
- $50k if his football team exceeds the national average for football teams in the multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR)
- $100k if his football team's APR is in the top 50% of football teams among the ACC's public institutions
(breathes)
- $50k if Doeren has one or more players named Academic All-American
- $50k if Doeren has a player named ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year
Let me pause for a slight editorial here - this seems particularly wrong to reward a coach financially directly because one of his players has labored exceptionally hard on the field and in the classroom. How is this justifiable and within the 'spirit of amateurism' and student-athlete welfare?
- $50k if during any year his football team's single year GPA meets or exceeds 3.0
- $100k if during any year his football team's cumulative GPA meets or exceeds 3.0
- $700k strictly related to his team's academic performance. Don't know about you, but that's amazing to me.
Advantage: Doeren
Conclusion: If Dave Doeren can figure out how to start winning conference games, he'll be in the money. Oh, who am I kidding, they're both in the money.
WATCH: Fedora on the one thing that keeps him up at night
