Well, folks, UConn got itself a new men’s basketball head coach, and Dan Hurley got himself a shiny new contract. So you know what that means: It’s time for me to go full lawyer on the six-year deal UConn offered the erstwhile URI head coach.
After the introductory press conference on Friday, UConn released the memo of understanding signed by AD David Benedict and Hurley. This isn’t the actual, signed contract, but the memo acknowledges that it contains the material terms of what will be Hurley’s contract, to be signed at “the earliest possible date.” Of course, Randy Edsall is still working without an executed contract so who knows what that really means.
Let’s start with the most important stuff: the money. Hurley will be paid $2.75M in his first year, but will average $3.1M per year over the six years of the deal. (Hmmm… I wonder where we’ve seen that figure before?) He’s also eligible for all sorts of bonuses for both athletic and academic achievements, which I’ll get to below.
UConn has again signed on to basically pay their coach the entirety of his contract if they fire him for being a bad coach. You’d think UConn would be a little gun shy, but here we are. Hurley would be entitled to payment of the following if UConn fires him:
Year 1: $17.25M
Year 2: $14.5M
Year 3: $11.7M
Year 4: $6.5M
Year 5: $4.5M
Year 6 or later: $3M
You have to assume that Hurly is basically guaranteed three or four years to turn the team around before UConn would consider firing him, which seems pretty reasonable given that it’s being sold as a rebuilding effort. Also of note is that the payments wouldn’t be due at the time of firing (as had been the case with other coaches) but would be paid out in monthly installments over the life of the contract. UConn has also added an offset clause (which is good! Well done!), meaning the payouts would be reduced by any compensation Hurley received as an NCAA D-1 basketball coach. So if UConn fires him and Hurley takes a job at another D-1 school, UConn would owe those payments minus whatever money the other school pays him.
Hurley, for his part, would owe UConn plenty of money if he left for a different job. There is no distinction between NBA or other college jobs:
Year 1: $8M
Year 2: $5M
Year 3: $3.5M
Year 4: $3M
Year 5: $2M
Year 6 or later: $0
Interestingly, this deal gives Dan Hurley the option to extend his contract for up to five additional years. He can add one year to his contract if he makes the NCAA Tournament in 2019, 2020 or 2021, or if he makes the Sweet Sixteen in 2021 or later. Hurley has the option of adding two years to his contract if he makes the Final Four.
In addition to those possible five years of extensions, Hurley also has the option of adding a year to his contract if UConn is slapped with NCAA sanctions based on stuff that happened before Hurley got to campus and those sanctions result in a loss of scholarships or limit recruiting in certain ways.
These options create an interesting juxtaposition to Ollie’s contract, which had no language about options, but did have language that would allow Ollie to leave UConn without paying a buyout. Instead of giving Hurley ways to leave, this contract is giving him ways to stay. That, coupled with the huge buyouts on both sides, strikes me as a deal made by someone who doesn’t want to go anywhere any time soon, and would certainly give credence to Hurley’s statements that UConn is a destination job for him. Having the chance to extend this contract to up to 12 years, and to have bargained for that, doesn’t seem like the move of someone who is looking to hop to the next big P5 job opening.
UConn is also responsible for paying Hurley’s buyout from URI, agreeing to pay up to $1M within the three months. They’re also ponying up $30,000 for moving expenses and $3,000 a month for up to six months for temporary housing.
Like Ollie’s contract, this one includes language about complying with UConn, AAC and NCAA rules and that material violation of those rules qualifies as just cause for discipline including firing. Unlike Ollie’s contract, there is no mention of Hurley being a member of the professor’s union.
Now let’s get to those bonuses!
Hurley can receive up to $1M per year in incentive-based bonuses: $200K for certain academic benchmarks, $700K for certain athletic benchmarks and an extra $100K for mystery TBD bonuses to be set by the athletic director. Hurley will also receive automatic increases to his annual salary if he makes the NCAA Tournament ($75K), makes the Sweet 16 ($150K), or wins the AAC regular season or tournament championship ($125K). You can see all the incentives Hurley is eligible for here.
There’s one big “however,” here. Getting all of these incentives, the options to extend his contract, the increases to salary, are all contingent on UConn men’s basketball maintaining a 950 multi-year APR and a 950 in any year Hurley would be entitled to any incentive or option. So, basically, there is a lot of money tied to UConn doing well in the classroom and on the court, but if they’re doing badly in the classroom, it doesn’t matter if they’re doing well on the court cuz ain’t nobody gettin’ paid.
Overall, this contract seems like one both parties want to be the beginning of a (long and) beautiful friendship. Both sides have money at stake if they want to get out of the deal, and UConn has made it very easy for Hurley to stay a good long time if he does well at his job. It sure would be nice to have a coach who is both good and doesn’t want to leave.
