Brandon's Contract

So, I've been saving this until there was nothing going on....like now.

Last year, USA Today published the contracts of most of the coaches in DI-A football.

I printed out Brandon's, and meant to post on it. So, here it is. This is extra fun, because it has the feeling of seeing something you aren't supposed to see, even though it is a public document.

Here's a summary....

His contact extends until the end of the 2008 season--which is defined as the last game of the season that year--including bowl games.

If he is found to have violated NCAA rules--here or before he came here--he is subject to disciplinary procedures.

Raising funds and making personal appearances are part of the job. (Includes, humorously, "football camps throughout the world.")

His base salary is $150K.
He does get merit increases every July 1, for which there is no information.
He does not accrue vacation, but gets 22 days a year.

There are numerous incentive clauses:

• If we win the West (ha! ha!, I'll bet he didn't like the move to the East), he gets $2,000.
• If we win the MAC, he gets $5,000.
• If we make a bowl game, he gets $5,000 (meaning that a MAC Championship win is really a $10,000 win).
• If we make a BCS bowl game, he gets $20,000.
• If he is MAC Coach of the year, he gets $2,000.
• If we have a 70% graduation rate of scholarship athletes, he gets $2,000.
• If we retain 95% of our players, he gets $2,000.
• If the team has a 2.75 GPA, he gets $2,000.
• If the GPA is over 3.0, he gets $2,000 more.
• If we average 17,000, he gets $2,000.
• If we average 20,000, he gets an additional $2,000.
• If we average 22,000, he gets an additional $2,000.
• If we finish in the Top 25 (AP or USA Today), he gets $5,000.
• If we finish in the Top 10, he gets $10,000.
• If we lead the MAC in Total offense or scoring offense he gets $1,000.
• If we lead the MAC in total defense or scoring defense, he gets $1,000.

He also gets media compensation, which is $20,000.

So, eliminating the incentives for making the BCS game or being in the top ten, he has the ability to realistically earn in excess of $30,000 in bonuses if we had a good season.

He can also earn outside income, but it must be consistent with his BG coaching duties, and he must disclose it.

He gets a membership at one country club.

The university gets to pick the apparel provider, in consultation with Coach Brandon.

Termination--of course, he can be terminated for cause, like death, disability, violation of duties or rules, felony charges, actions prejudicial to BGSU, anything that would cause the termination of a typical employee, and violating his restrictive covenant with BGSU--which says if he is approached for another football job, he has to notify the university.

He can also be terminated without cause. Yes, Falcon fans, firing him for losing is "without cause." In this case, he would get the greater of one year's base salary or $250,000.

Let's say Brandon terminates the contract. If it is between the end of the season and May 31, he can give the Athletic Director 30 days notice. He cannot terminate his contract between the June 1 and the end of the season--not counting a "non-league" bowl game. In such a situation, Brandon has agreed that the harm would be "irreparable and could not be quantified or remedied with damages."

(This is an important distinction. His contract term is until the end of the season including the bowl game. But, if we wanted to leave between the MAC Championship and a "non-league" bowl game, he could. Now, I don't know what "non-league" means. But, this is the home of uninformed opinion, so here you go. The current MAC bowl games (GMAC, Motor City and International) would be considered "league" bowl games. So, if Coach got us into the Fiesta Bowl (bear with me), he could terminate his contract before the bowl game.)

If Brandon does terminate his contract, he owes BGSU $100,000. This is the "buy out."

All the information--recruiting, films, etc--belong to BGSU, although many Falcon fans would urge the ritual burning of the whole collection if it gets to this.

Then, there is one more interesting thing. In the interregnum period between ADs, he got Ed Whipple to sign an amendment to his contract that requires the AD to consult him on the schedule, starting with this year's schedule. This clearly is the result of Brandon being unhappy with the schedule developed by Krebs in his last season. Coach complained at the time, and throughout the season about having OSU on the schedule, lack of a bye week, etc. So, I think he lobbied for this when he didn't have a boss.

And, when the schedule was announced, if you go back and look, you will see that Christopher's comments included the words "in consultation with Coach Brandon." In other words, no complaining this year.