Steve Sarkisian set to make more than $10M per year with new contract extension
The board is set to act on the contract extension during their regular meeting Feb. 20-21 that Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte announced in January. According to meeting agenda documents, the extension adds four years to his initial six-year deal, keeping him with the Longhorns for 10 seasons through 2030, and it upped his base salary from $5.8 million to $10.3 million for the 2024 season.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Once his contract extension is approved by the University of Texas System Board of Regents, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian will get quite a pay raise.
The board is set to act on the contract extension during their regular meeting Feb. 20-21 that Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte announced in January. According to meeting agenda documents, the extension adds four years to his initial six-year deal, keeping him with the Longhorns for 10 seasons through 2030, and it upped his base salary from $5.8 million to $10.3 million for the 2024 season.
Each year after that, he'll get a $100,000 raise bringing him to $10.9 million by the end of his contract. Sarkisian would have made $6 million in 2025 and $6.2 million in 2026 in his initial contract. Now he will make more than $10 million per year in base pay alone.
Sarkisian will receive a $300,000 bonus to be paid April 1 and his incentive structure was modified based on the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Under the extension, Sarkisian will make an extra $1.85 million if he hits all of his new incentives. Here's how the incentives break down:
- $150,000 each year that Texas plays in the SEC championship game and $300,000 if Texas wins it
- $100,000 if Texas makes it to a non-CFP bowl game
- $250,000 if Texas plays in the first round of the CFP (it will expand to 12 teams next season)
- $500,000 for playing in the CFP quarterfinals
- $750,000 for playing in the CFP semifinals
- $1 million for playing in the CFP national championship game
- $1.25 million for winning the CFP national championship
The incentives aren't progressive, meaning he'll receive the amount for whatever level the team reaches. As an example, he'd receive $500,000 for making it to the CFP quarterfinals and no other incentive value below that.
He'll also receive incentives for postseason coaching recognition. He'll get $200,000 if he's named the national coach of the year by one of the seven recognized outlets and an extra $100,000 if he's named the conference coach of the year.
He'll receive more tickets for home and away games as well. He'll get 12 for every home game, up from eight, and he can buy up to 20 tickets. He'll also retain the use of a suite for all home games. He'll get eight tickets for each away game with the option to buy 20 and up to eight for postseason games. A suite is included for postseason games. He'll also get six tickets to all other Texas Athletics home games.
Sarkisian also gets to use the university's private jet for 20 hours per year and two cars, like he did under the previous contract.
Three of Sarkisian's assistants, Jeff Banks, Kyle Flood and Pete Kwiatkowski, are also getting raises. Banks' base salary will go up by 4.3% over the next three years and be $1.5 million by 2026. Flood's will rise 5.4% and be $1.4 million by 2025 and Kwiatkowski's salary will go up 5.9% to $2 million by 2027.
The extension came on the heels of legendary coach Nick Saban retiring at Alabama, and there was speculation that Sarkisian may be interested in taking over there. Saban hired Sarkisian as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2019-20 and he was an analyst for the Crimson Tide in 2016.