The first major battle of Deion Sanders’ college head coaching career wasn’t a game or a recruit. It was about Nike.
Jackson State was a Nike-sponsored school when Sanders arrived in late 2020, but Sanders, who has a personal deal and a close relationship with Under Armour, helped convince the school to switch to Under Armour. He never wore the swoosh with Jackson State.
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But at Colorado, he is contractually required to wear Nike gear in his official capacity. That itself is not unusual for a head coach. But his contract with the Buffaloes goes so far as to specifically say he cannot cover up the Nike logo.
“The Parties acknowledge their commitment not to permit such ‘spatting’ or taping, and to ensure that all other products of the University’s Sponsorship Contractor worn or used by Football team members remain unaltered, so as to allow the University’s Sponsorship Contractor’s logo on the products of the University’s Sponsorship Contractor to remain visible,” the contract reads. Sanders also can’t wear sunglasses with the logo of a brand other than Nike.
Salaries and buyouts get most of the attention in coaching contracts, but there can be a lot more that goes into the documents. The Athletic obtained 18 contracts or employment agreements of the 20 new public school head coaches this year. (Auburn and Mississippi State either didn’t respond to a request or said the agreement was not yet available, and private schools are not required to release contract information). The result is a detailed look at perks like vehicles and tickets along with other unique requirements or contingencies for coaches, some of whom are the highest-paid public employees in their respective states.
Prime details
In 2021, Colorado referred to its first Nike deal in 1995 as one of the most consequential moments in school history and said the partnership has “stood the test of time.” Every major school has an apparel deal that coaches and players must follow. But Sanders is “Coach Prime,” a universe unto himself, and his official contract recognizes that, with scores of quirks and perks.
That includes acknowledging that Sanders still has his own Under Armour deal (his son Shedeur does, too). Deion Sanders was once a Nike star in the 1990s, but the sides had a falling out; in the past, Sanders has cited issues such as signature cleats and support for youth leagues as reasons for the split. Sanders and Under Armour have had a relationship since 2009, and Sanders has said many times he would never go back to Nike. At Colorado, Sanders can keep his UA deal on the side.
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“(T)he University is aware of all of Coach’s existing sponsorship/endorsement deals, and to the extent any of those deals may have been a conflict hereunder, their existence is not deemed a conflict,” the contract reads. “During the term of this Agreement, as long as the above-described existing sponsorship and endorsement deals are deemed not to conflict with University sponsorship/endorsement deals, Coach shall have the right to renew or extend the existing deals without restriction.”
Sanders hasn’t been seen in Nike gear very much at Colorado. There have been a few hats, including at his introductory press conference, but Sanders has typically worn apparel displaying his “Coach P21ME” logo and the Colorado logo. The behind-the-scenes YouTube videos produced by his son Deion Jr. are not university-sanctioned, and at least one clip showed Sanders wearing a Nike hat with an Under Armour jacket.
Sanders has brought immense levels of attention to Colorado. How much benefit will Nike reap from the coach? Time will tell. It’s also worth noting that Colorado’s Nike deal expires in mid-2025.
Among other Colorado contract details, Sanders gets two courtesy SUVs or a $1,200 per month supplemental salary. Only three other new head coaches are allowed two vehicles — Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State), Luke Fickell (Wisconsin) and Barry Odom (UNLV) — but Sanders’ is the most valuable car perk.
The contract even has a section about catchphrases, not something most coaches bring. Coach Prime has a lot of intellectual property, after all. Per the contract, Sanders keeps the rights to his “trademarks, logos, copyrights, and catchphrases,” and “The Parties will mutually agree upon the use of catchphrases if used for internal Athletics Department promotional purposes. If the University intends to use the catchphrases for commercial purposes, Parties will work together to develop a mutually agreeable revenue share.”
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And, of course, there is the money and term, the main point of a contract. Sanders has a five-year deal worth $5.5 million in 2023. If Sanders turns Colorado around, other teams will come calling. The buyout for him to get out of the deal starts at $15 million this year, dropping to $10 million in 2024 and down from there. But notably, the contract says any departure shouldn’t happen before postseason games.
“So long as Sanders is assigned duties as Head Football Coach, such termination by Sanders should occur at a time outside the Football Program playing season, including post-season games, so as to minimize the impact of such termination on the Football Program,” the contract says.
Country clubs
Every coach receives a country club/golf club membership or reimbursement for club dues, good for the entire family. This is a perk that is often considered “promotion,” as the local country club is a place to court and interact with donors. While most coach contracts simply mention the membership and dues, Sanders’ provides an out:
“If Sanders determines that he can effectively promote the University and the Department without joining a country club, then he is not required to join a country club but will not receive this allowance during the time that he is not a member of a club.”
Tickets
If you’re a coach who wants the most tickets, Western Michigan is the place to be. Most schools offer around 10-14 home season tickets and the use of a suite, along with tickets to basketball and other sports. Louisville will give Jeff Brohm 20 football season tickets, 10 of which are for club seating. At UNLV, Barry Odom can get up to 18 season tickets. At UAB, Trent Dilfer gets 24 tickets per home game.
But at Western Michigan, Lance Taylor will get a remarkable 34 season tickets. He also gets up to 12 tickets for road games and postseason travel, and family travel is covered, as is the case at most schools.
Kent State’s Kenni Burns is the only coach with a ticket sales bonus. He can receive $5,000 if season tickets sold to fans increases from 10 to 24.99 percent, a $10,000 bonus if it’s 25-49.99 percent and $15,000 if it’s greater than 50 percent.
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NCAA violations
Every coach contract requires knowledge of NCAA rules and the passage of a compliance test. Dillingham inherits an Arizona State program under NCAA investigation, and his five-year contract has clauses for automatic extensions if the program is penalized for the prior coaching staff.
“If the NCAA imposes (a) a scholarship reduction penalty of four or more scholarships or (b) a post-season bowl game ban on the Sun Devil Football program as sanctions for events occurring wholly prior to Coach’s employment as head coach of the program, ASU will request (Arizona Board of Regents) approval of an extension of Coach’s contract for each year such sanctions are in effect, with each additional year including the annual salary increase of $100,000. ASU will make each request for an extension in accordance with ABOR policy.”
Sports gambling
The reach and legality of sports betting have exploded in recent years. NCAA rules already ban such action by athletes and coaches, but Sanders and Kent State head coach Kenni Burns have nearly the exact same language about the issue. Both Colorado and Ohio have legalized sports gambling.
The contracts ban “Soliciting, placing or accepting by COACH of a bet on any intercollegiate or professional athletic contest, or permitting, condoning or encouraging by COACH of any illegal gambling, bookmaking or illegal betting involving any intercollegiate or professional athletic contest whether through a bookmaker, a parlay card, a pool or any other method of organized gambling; or furnishing by COACH of information or data relating in any manner to FOOTBALL or any other sport to any individual known by COACH to be or whom COACH should reasonably know to be a gambler, bettor or bookmaker, or an agent of any such person, or the consorting or associating by COACH with such persons.”
Dilfer’s contract also notes a specific ban on sports betting.
Kent State contingencies
Outside of Sanders, Burns at Kent State has the most nuanced and detailed contract. Along with the ticket sales and gambling clauses mentioned above, Burns cannot contact or recruit Kent State players within one year of leaving Kent State, and the football budget can be aided by playing Power 5 nonconference games (aka “money guarantee games”). This same game clause was put in former head coach Sean Lewis’ last contract because the Golden Flashes play so many of them.
If the schedule includes one guarantee game worth at least $1 million, $50,000 will go directly to the football budget. If two games, it’s $100,000. If there are three, it’s $200,000. Of that money, 75 percent will be used for student-athlete-facing projects. In 2024, Kent State plays at Pitt, Penn State and Tennessee.
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As for recruiting Kent State players upon departure, few schools lost more to the portal than Kent State, which lost its quarterback, top three receivers and two offensive linemen to Power 5 schools after Lewis went to Colorado to become Sanders’ offensive coordinator. One of those linemen followed Lewis to Boulder. The language reflects growing concern from G5 schools about losing a head coach to a bigger school and the top players following him there.
Burns must also “Provide positive and constructive public statements regarding the FOOTBALL Team, athletics program, athletics staff, coaches, the University and the University staff.”
Other odds and ends
• Nebraska’s Matt Rhule gets 50 hours of private flight time for personal use. His contract starts at $5.5 million but increases up to $12.5 million by the end.
• Fickell gets an additional $125,000 annually in travel and entertainment fringe benefits.
• Fickell’s contract states team medical decisions are left up to medical and training staff, and Sanders’ contract says physical exercise cannot be used as punishment.
• Twelve of the 17 contracts are five-year deals, with Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield (six), Brohm (six), USF’s Alex Golesh (six), Rhule (eight) and Fickell (eight) the exceptions.
• Brohm will receive a one-year extension for a seven-win season and a two-year extension for 10 wins, which would raise his salary to $6.5 million in 2029 and $7 million in 2030.
• Dilfer’s UAB contract stipulates he can still make paid appearances on Colin Cowherd’s radio show and Ryen Rusillo’s podcast, subject to prior approval from UAB’s athletic director. The same goes for authoring books, the only contract among this group that specifies those things. Dilfer’s contract also notes under the list of duties, “Maintain a reasonably mature and rational attitude, and keep emotions in control, and downplay defeats.”
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• Not every contract guarantees an assistant salary pool, but Rhule received the highest pool with $7 million for 10 on-field assistants.
• Nearly every coach received relocation expenses ranging from $30,000 to $50,000.
• Charlotte, North Texas, Texas State and Western Michigan provided cell phone stipends ranging from $50 to $120 per month.
• Purdue’s Ryan Walters has bowl bonuses depending on the game. Outside the CFP, Walters would get 20 percent of his base salary for a Rose Bowl, 18 percent for another New Year’s Six game, 12 percent for Citrus, Music City and ReliaQuest Bowls, 10 percent for the Pinstripe Bowl and 7.5 percent for other bowls.
• Walters and Fickell have “Force Majeure” clauses, in case a major event happens (like another pandemic). Satterfield’s contract at Cincinnati similarly states his salary could be adjusted if the season is shortened, and Odom’s at UNLV says his salary could be reduced if reductions happen throughout the Nevada System of Higher Education.
• Golesh will get a raise of at least $1 million annually if USF joins a Power 5 conference.
• Brent Key’s $2.8 million starting salary at Georgia Tech is less than that of the coach he replaced midway through last season, as Geoff Collins earned a little more than $3 million annually. Collins went 1-3 last year, while Key went 4-4.
Best buyouts
These days, the buyouts draw the most attention of any coaching contract detail. Millions and millions are thrown at coaches just to go away.
The top buyout goes to Brohm, whose six-year contract at Louisville is fully guaranteed for salary and retention bonuses with no offset, meaning the buyout starts at almost $40 million if he’s fired without cause. Rhule’s contract would pay him 90 percent of the remaining term based on his monthly salary at the time, but that is subject to offset from his next job.
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Dillingham would also receive 100 percent of his then-annual salary if fired without cause, but that’s also subject to offset. Satterfield’s buyout is 100 percent if he’s fired before 2026 and 70 percent after that, subject to offset. Dilfer’s buyout is 100 percent of his remaining contract, subject to offset from another comparable coaching job.
On the flip side, Brohm would owe just $1 million if he left Louisville. Dillingham’s outgoing buyout states he cannot become a head coach at another Pac-12 school for the length of his term. Tim Beck’s buyout to leave Coastal Carolina is $3 million through 2026 but just $1.5 million if he leaves for another Group of 5 school. Biff Poggi’s buyout at Charlotte drops 50 percent if athletic director Mike Hill isn’t there, and Beck’s buyout at Coastal drops 50 percent if chairman of athletics Joe Moglia or president Michael T. Benson are no longer at the school.
As they always say, being a fired head football coach is good work if you can get it (and lose it).
Public contract details for CFB’s new coaches
| School | Coach | Term length | Starting salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Kenny Dillingham | Five years | $3.85M | |
Biff Poggi | Five years | $1M | |
Scott Satterfield | Six years | $3.5M | |
Tim Beck | Five years | $1M | |
Deion Sanders | Five years | $5.5M | |
Tom Herman | Five years | $700K | |
Brent Key | Five years | $2.8M | |
Kenni Burns | Five years | $475K | |
Jeff Brohm | Six years | $5M | |
Matt Rhule | Eight years | $5.5M | |
Ryan Walters | Five years | $4M | |
Eric Morris | Five years | $1.2M | |
GJ Kinne | Five years | $800K | |
Barry Odom | Five years | $1.75M | |
Alex Golesh | Six years | $2.5M | |
Lance Taylor | Five years | $850K | |
Luke Fickell | Eight years | $7.5M |
(Illustration: Samuel Richardson for The Athletic; Photos: iStock)
