The Colorado regents recently approved the coaching contracts of both new head coach John Embree and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy; both coaches will make the same base salary of $250,000. It is odd that the base salary of the head coach equals that of the offensive coordinator, but with with sponsorship deals and media appearances it makes Embree's salary a more respectable $750,000 while Bieniemy's climbs to $425,000.
Also, Embree's salary is much more economic friendly then Dan Hawkns deal, because Hawkins was fired and paid $2.1 million after five years on the job. The buyout clause for Embree will pay him paid $750,000 if fired in 2011, $500,000 in 2012 and $250,000 in 2013. If he his fired in 2014 or 2015 he will receive nothing.
Here is a complete breakdown of Embree's salary, with incentives:
— $250,000 base salary
— $200,000 annual supplemental compensation for radio, television and public appearances
— $200,000 for sponsorship support
— $75,000 for conducting summer football camps
There are also the standard bonuses for winning a national title at $750,000, if the Buffs win seven games in a season Embree gets a $50,000 bonus but then there is a clause that will give Embree $200,000 for playing in a non-BCS game. That last incentive is a bit off, Embree could win six games and play in a low level bowl game and pocket a cool $200,000.
All those bonuses are quite nice, but if Colorado fans take look east toward their former Big 12 South foe Oklahoma Sooners they would notice that Bob Stoops just received a one million dollar raise to give him a base salary of $4.875 million per year. However, if one looks at the complete staff salary of Oklahoma it is $7 million a year with the lowest paid coach being Bruce Kittle who coaches the tight ends and tackle who earns $240,000 per season.