Post by cviller on Sept 6, 2007 9:57:28 GMT -5
Hoppy Kercheval
WVU football Coach Rich Rodriguez has signed a new contract with the university that could pay him $12.5-million over the next seven seasons if he stays for the duration of the agreement. Rodriguez announced the agreement Wednesday night on his statewide radio show on Metronews.
The contract, which runs through Jan. 15, 2014, raises Rodriguez's salary immediately to $1.3 million, but that amount will increase to nearly $1.8-million as Rodriguez meets longevity benchmarks.
He currently makes $1.1 million. Under the old agreement Rodriguez would would have made $8.5-million over seven years. The new deal pays him roughly $4-million more over seven years if he stays until 2014.
Rodriguez and the university reached terms of a new agreement last December when he considered leaving his alma mater to coach at Alabama, but the new contract was not officially signed until a week before the season opening game.
"I signed the contract a couple of weeks ago," Rodriguez said. "I didn't make a big deal out of it because I said all along it wasn't a big deal."
He added, "The only reason I'm addressing it now is because I don't want it to be an issue for recruiting ... Everything is good."
The contract reflects the terms agreed to nine months ago with one notable exception. It includes a newly created program that will allow Rodriguez to place large portions of his pay into a retirement plan to avoid a significant tax bite.
The university and Rodriguez worked for months to configure the retirement plan. The contract allows the coach to defer part of salary in the interest-bearing retirement program each year over the next seven years.
"I really appreciate everybody working on it," Rodriguez said.
The university does not make a contribution to the plan, nor does the program increase his compensation.
Under his old contract, Rodriguez was scheduled to receive a portion of his salary, configured as “deferred compensation” as a lump sum payment at the end of the 2011 football season. But the tax liability of a one-time cash payment would have been substantial.
WVU President Mike Garrison called the talk show to express his satisfaction with the deal.
"It's very good news," Garrision said. "I know it means a whole lot to us at the university and the entire state."
There are other incentives that are not included in the salary. For example, Rodriguez will be paid another $50,000 a year for the life of the contract if the Mountaineers qualify for BCS bowl.
The buyout in the contract is sizable. It starts at $4-million, decreases to $2-million Sept. 1, 2008, and then drops to $1-million Sept. 1, 2011 where it remains until Jan. 15, 2014.
Conversely, WVU is obligated to pay Rodriguez at the same rate if it fires him without cause.
Technically, the agreement is the “second amendment” to his original contract. Rodriguez signed the “first amendment” to his 2002 contract in June 2006 that raised his salary to $1- million and ran through Jan. 15, 2013. The second amendment runs one year longer.
Rodriguez said he wasn't even going to adddress the issue until someone flew a plane over Mountaineer Field last Saturday with a banner questioning whether the contract had been signed. By then, it had, but it was not announced.
Garrision was just happy the deal was finally codified. "You want people who want to be here," Garrision said. "It's good to have it locked down."
Rodriguez is in his seventh year at WVU. The Marion County native was pursued by Alabama near the end of last season. He reportedly turned down an offer of $12-million over six years.
