Thursday May 29, 2008

The Contracts

The Contracts
Back in December Tommy Bowden negotiated his new contract with Clemson and my sources were almost perfect on the details that were released yesterday. Throughout the season Oliver Purnell and the administration worked on terms of his new contract and those terms were released yesterday. My sources were off by about $100,000 on Purnell's new contract.

Contracts can be complicated and are getting more so each year.

I think most Clemson fans do not have a problem with Purnell's extension. Playing in the ACC tournament finals and making it to the NCAA tournament should be rewarded and he is worth every penny according to most of the Tigers I talk to.

However, some have issues with Bowden's deal. I can listen to those that want to argue that point and I don't want to come across as a Bowden apologist. Here are some thoughts I had on the issue:

*I do not think Bowden has won enough football games at Clemson. I would have thought he would have won more games and more championships.

*I do think he has done a very good job in almost every other aspect of the job.

*The last three seasons he has won 25 games or an average of 8.3 per campaign. I personally think that number will increase in the next three years.

*This may come as a surprise to some but actually Bowden has been a bargain for Clemson. He has been between the 35th and 45th highest paid coach in the country so far in his Clemson years. He has also been in the lower half of the ACC coaches in terms of compensation. Little could argue that he has not had Clemson in the top 35 in the country in the last few years and he is always ion the top half of the league. In terms of return on investment, Bowden has been a good buy for Clemson.

*His new contract has Bowden tied for 21st in the nation in terms of compensation. He is also the fifth highest paid coach in the ACC now. Bobby Bowden, Frank Beamer, Butch Davis and Al Groh make more than Tommy Bowden in 2008. So, in terms of return on investment, if Clemson finishes in the top 20 and in the top four in the ACC, Bowden will once again be a bargain.

*I think it is very appropriate to have incentives in his contract and like what Terry Don Phillips has done here. Bowden will be rewarded for success in terms of number of wins, ACC championship game appearances, ACC titles, BCS game appearances, BCS game wins and national titles. He will also be rewarded for his team's success in the class room based upon APR and graduation rates.

In summary, I am not satisfied with the number of wins Bowden has had in his tenure at Clemson. However, I am more encouraged about the future. I wish the level of talent and wins would have risen faster but I am satisfied that it is at least going to happen.

There are other factors involved in analyzing the deals. First you have to consider the industry standards. I am sure Notre Dame is not happy about having to pay Charlie Weiss $4 million a year but I am sure they think they will do better in the future. The same can be said for Iowa's $3.03 million they give Kirk Ferentz each year. Do you think Alabama feels good about the $3.75 million they paid Nick Saban for his seven wins in 2007?

This is the going rate and schools have to pay it. They have no choice. June Jones was successful at Hawaii but is he worth the $2 million SMU will pay him this season?

Arkansas had Houston Nutt for about $1.5 million and they were not sure they liked him too much. Even though he had them in the SEC title game a couple of times, some Razorbacks did not think he was the right man for the job. Nutt left for Ole Miss and his new $1.7 million dollar contract and Arkansas had to shell out $2.85 million for Bobby Petrino.

The buyout for Bowden has been an issue for some also. The $4 million buyout is only good through December 1, 2008 and then it goes down to $3.5 million. That buyout goes both ways too. Now if Bowden wants to flirt with a school like he did with Arkansas last year then he will owe $3.5 million after December 1, 2008. Buyouts are there to protect both sides and are major obstacles. I understand the few who may feel the buyout was too high and I am willing to listen to that argument.

Purnell's deal appears to be a big bargain. I am not sure where he ranks nationally but he will be the fifth or sixth highest paid coach in the ACC. Roy Williams, Coach K, Gary Williams and Sidney Lowe make more than Purnell. Paul Hewitt is about the same range as Purnell.

Purnell also has incentives for high finishes in the ACC, ACC tournament titles, ACC regular season titles, NCAA tournament appearances and wins. Like Bowden, he will be rewarded for academic success as well.

If you really want to see what kind of bargain Purnell is for Clemson consider USC is paying their new women's basketball coach $650,000 per season.

I don't like paying my insurance premiums every six months but I sure don't want to pay for my house if it burned down and I did not have the home owners' policy. This is what has happened to coaching contracts. Schools don't like having to extend coaches' contracts as often as they have to but I know athletic directors don't like having to go through coaching searches. There are a lot of negatives to coaching searches and the PR of getting turned down can be a major downer.

All things considered I think Terry Don did a nice job with Bowden's and Purnell's new deals.

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