When Missouri recently released the details of newly-hired men’s basketball coach Frank Haith’s five-year, $1.6 million per year contract Monday, the school made one thing clear: the Tigers have their coach and would love to keep him.
Missouri’s plan to lock Haith in includes a trademark difference between his deal and the one former coach Mike Anderson opted out of – a much steeper buyout clause, should Haith later choose to follow in Anderson’s footsteps one more time.
Whereas Arkansas must now pay Missouri $550,000 for hiring away Anderson, Haith’s buyout will remain above that level until year four of the deal. The buyout is set at $1.2 million for year one, $1 million for the second year and $750,000 for the third year of the contract. In year four, the buyout will dip below Anderson’s penalty to $500,000.
The change was the product of foresight for a program that has spent recent months learning to be bigger than the man on the sidelines.
“One of the things we talked about was that we wanted to make sure that those people that we’re recruiting, that this is where they wanted to be,” Athletics Director Mike Alden said in a meeting with reporters in the Stalcup Room at Mizzou Arena on Monday.
Likewise to potential consequences for leaving, Haith’s contract contains plenty of incentives for the former Miami coach to remain on the Mizzou Arena sidelines.
Haith’s deal in year one is already the size of Anderson’s final contract at Missouri from 2009. The agreement includes a base salary of $350,000 and an additional guaranteed compensation of $1,150,000 from the areas of apparel, television, radio, public relations and camps. The deal then reaches a final figure of $1.6 million with an annual deferred amount of $100,000.
Each of the five above areas of guaranteed compensation would increase by $10,000 annually to give Haith a $50,000 raise in each additional year of the contract.
Success on the job will only net Haith more compensation, as the deal is loaded with incentives for various levels of accomplishment both on and off the court. Potential raises include trips to the NCAA tournament and its various rounds, coach of the year awards and reaching academic and social goals.
Haith will also enjoy a hike in staff salary pool from the one Anderson enjoyed. Haith will have $750,000 to give as compensation to five coaches, which will likely include three assistants, a strength and conditioning coach and a director of basketball operations. Alden figured that the amount would rank among the top 20 to 25 staff salary pools in the country.
“I think (the increase) is important with regards to the competitiveness of the staff,” Alden said. “We felt it was important too that we were able to provide Frank with the resources when he wanted to go out and recruit a staff that he wanted to bring here.”
In full, Haith’s contract places him fourth among Big 12 Conference coaches. He ranks behind Kansas’ Bill Self, Texas’ Rick Barnes and Oklahoma’s newly hired Lon Kruger, all of whom make more than $2 million annually.
