CMU signs Jim McElwain through 2026; he'll make more than $1M a year

Central Michigan is committed to head football coach Jim McElwain.

McEwain signed a new five-year contract before the start of the 2022 season, and was paid $879,120 in base pay, including a $50,000 retention bonus, for 2022, according to details of his new agreement, obtained by The News in a Freedom of Information Act request. Central Michigan athletic director Amy Folan said McElwain signed the contract ahead of last season; the university made no announcement at the time.

The contract runs through the 2026 season, and for each of the last four years of the deal, he is due a $150,000 retention bonus every Feb. 15. The first of those payments is due this month.

McElwain, 60, is set to earn $1,005,120 in base pay in 2023, including the retention bonus; $1,029,120 in 2024; $1,054,120 in 2025; and $1,079,120 in 2026.

Under his old contract, signed when he took the job ahead of the 2019 season, McElwain was making $640,900 in is first year up to $740,900 in his last year of the contract. That was in addition to the significant money he still was drawing from the University of Florida, which fired him in 2017 after two-and-a-half seasons on the job.

McElwain's new contract includes a similar bonus structure to his original deal, with modest bonuses for performance, like win totals, Mid-American Conference championships, CMU attendance and player grades.

If Central Michigan were to fire McElwain without cause, the school's buyout starts at $2 million in 2023, and drops down to $1 million in 2026, the last year of the deal. If McElwain were to leave for another job, his buyout starts at $700,000 in 2023, dropping to $300,000 in 2026.

The new contract makes McElwain the highest-paid MAC coach in the state, ahead of new Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor ($850,000) and Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton ($525,000, though he made more than $600,000 in 2022 because of bonuses). Toledo's Jason Candle is the highest-paid in the league, at $1.1 million.

McElwain is 24-21 in four seasons at Central Michigan, making bowl games in 2019 (a loss to San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl) and 2021 (a win over Washington State in the Sun Bowl). His team made the MAC championship game at Ford Field in 2019, losing to Miami (Ohio). In 2022, the Chippewas were a surprising 4-8, his first losing season in Mt. Pleasant.

McElwain began his head-coaching career at Colorado State, where he was for three years before being going to Florida. After being fired by Florida, McElwain was a wide-receivers coach at Michigan in 2018. He also was an assistant head coach, wide-receivers coach and special-teams coach at Michigan State from 2003-05.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984