Today has been a busy day for the media surrounding new Washington Huskies basketball coach Mike Hopkins. Earlier today, he held his introductory press conference. Also released this morning was a memo about the details of his contract and the commitment to his supporting staff.
Christian Caple of the Tacoma News Tribune has the details.
Hopkins is signed to a six-year contract with a built-in raise every time the you exchange your husky puppy calendar. The first year is at 1.8 million going up $100,000 annually.
Also included are bonuses tied to team accomplishments, including an academic incentive. Among those: $25,000 for an NCAA Tournament appearance, $25,000 for a the team hitting a minimum APR score of 970, $25,000 for a conference tournament championship, $40,000 for a regular season conference championship and a whopping $100,000 bonus for winning the national championship.
Now, we don’t have the details to how the final numbers shook out last season, but Washington has committed to spay at least $1.35 million for the supporting staff.
Also, UW has committed a minimum of $1.35 million in salary for Hopkins’ coaching staff. UW paid roughly $647,000 total to its three assistant coaches this year, plus $162,744 to special assistant to the head coach Brad Jackson, and, obviously, the salaries of the strength coach, video coordinator, director of basketball operations and any other full-time, non-hourly staff members within the program.
Also included in the above link are details of the buyout should Hopkins elect to leave for another job - with nothing specific mentioning Syracuse. Not included were the buyout amounts should Washington elect to terminate Hopkins’ employment.
Even with the other staffers included, it would appear that UW is willing to spend more on the basketball program than it has in seasons past. Not only is Hopkins being paid more than Romar would have been ($1.7 milliion), but it looks like the surrounding staff might be getting a pay bump as well.
It remains to be seen how much of that budget goes to Will Conroy, who has already re-upped as an assistant to Coach Hop as announced at the introductory press conference. What is also notable is that as of this writing, Michael Porter Sr. is still under contract as an assistant. It has been reported that he had accepted a contract with the University of Missouri.