Breaking Down Matt Campbell's Contract with Iowa State

Luke Manderfeld of the Iowa State Daily was the first to break the details of Matt Campbell's contract as head coach of Iowa State. Here's the breakdown of the income side of Campbell's contract:

Campbell's base pay will be $265,000 per year, but he'll get $900,000 in 2016 for doing endorsement activities for the school... (1)

— Luke Manderfeld (@Luke_Manderfeld) May 13, 2016

That number will increase by $100,000 every year until his contract ends in 2021. (2) #Cyclones

— Luke Manderfeld (@Luke_Manderfeld) May 13, 2016

First incentive: $500,000 for winning six games, but Campbell can take $100,000 of that and use it for his staff.

— Luke Manderfeld (@Luke_Manderfeld) May 13, 2016

Second incentive: $250,000 for winning or tying the Big 12 regular season championship. #Cyclones

— Luke Manderfeld (@Luke_Manderfeld) May 13, 2016

Fourth incentive: $50,000 for winning or sharing the Big 12 Coach of the Year. #Cyclones

— Luke Manderfeld (@Luke_Manderfeld) May 13, 2016

When the details of Campbell's contract were first reported it was listed as a 6-year, $2M/year contract to start, and after reading the contract (embedded below) it's easy to see how this happened.

The Front Load

Year 1 of the contract was technically 2015 and was from the day Campbell took the reins on November 30th through the end of the year. This brief 32 day window paid Campbell his annual base salary of $265,000 and his "Additional Compensation", which was listed as a one time rate of $1,735,000. Technically speaking, Campbell was paid $2,000,000 for his first year of the contract, which was just a month long.

The Standard Back Load

Starting in 2016 Campbell's Additional Compensation drops to $935,000/year with annual $100,000 increases. His base salary remains consistent throughout the life of the contract. Thus, his Total Compensation for 2016 is a simple $1,200,000. Taking this all the way out to 2021 and the end of the contract puts Campbell's Total Compensation in his final year at $1,700,000, which is less than he made in a month in 2015.

The Incentives

Manderfeld's tweets above covered this and the incentives are about as straightforward as you can get with the first contract for a new head coach. Get to six wins ($500k), Big 12 Championship ($250k), Bowl Win ($100k), Big 12 Coach of the Year ($50k). Putting it all together looks like this:

(Link to embiggen)

Campbell can earn over $13M for the life on the contract, so this clocks in higher than the originally reported $12M mentioned back in November. Is this likely? Not at all. Iowa State isn't winning the Big 12 in 2016, and getting to six wins will be a stretch. But if and when Campbell delivers then he's going to get paid

The Buyout

If Iowa State were to terminate the contract without Just Cause then the buyout is standard boilerplate terminology that takes Campbell's Total Compensation (not Base Pay) times the years left on his contract. Say Campbell gets three years to work his craft, fails, and gets fired. He would then receive his 2019, 2020, and 2021 Total Compensation within 45 days of his termination. That amount comes out to $4.8M.

Surprisingly, if Campbell terminates the contract the same language applies. Say he gets those three years and gets plucked away by another school. Then it's the $4.8M left on his contract that comes back to the university within 45 days. It's tempting to believe that this means Campbell wants to stay for a long time, and maybe it's true, but it's far more likely that both parties went in to this with open minds.

Relevant to buyouts is the fact that Iowa State paid Toledo $200k to bring Campbell's services to Ames.

The Larger Scheme

Here's Campbell's historical earnings courtesy of the USA Today salary database.

(Link to embiggen)

Yep, the boy got paid.

The bigger picture is where Campbell ranks on this list now. He was 107th on the list last year at Toledo, and factoring in the $2M paid to him in December he moved up to 55th and in to a tie with Cal's Sonny Dykes. His $1.2M salary for 2016 would drop him 13 spots on last year's list and make him one of the lowest paid Power 5 head coaches. Needless to say if Campbell has success then Jamie Pollard will really have to open up his checkbook.

The Contract

Here its the contract in all its glory originally published by Uncle Randy over at The Des Moines Register.