LSU athletics director Scott Woodward gained considerable renown for his ability to use his department’s considerable financial resources to hire women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey away from Baylor and football coach Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame over a seven-month span in 2021.
The investment in Mulkey paid off for LSU — and for Woodward — this past weekend.
Mulkey led her team to the school’s first NCAA championship in women’s or men’s basketball, and that achievement will give Woodward a $500,000 bonus under the terms of a new contract he and the school signed this past October.
The agreement added provisions for what is termed a “Milestone Performance Payment” – actually two of them.
Under the first, Woodward was to receive $500,000 “if at anytime prior to July 1, 2025, LSU either: a) wins a national championship in any varsity sport, or b) wins a total of 3 SEC championships across all varsity sports, or c) qualifies for the BCS [sic] semifinal game.”
LSU’s victory over Iowa in Sunday’s NCAA tournament final is the first of those benchmarks to be reached.
The agreement provides for a second $500,000 payment to Woodward if between July 2, 2025 and July 1, 2029, one of those same three goals are met. (The end of this second timeframe is after the current expiration date of the contract, April 30, 2029.)
Schools’ contracts with athletics directors commonly include bonuses, including amounts for competitive achievements by specific teams. However, Woodward’s payment is among the largest for a single outcome, according to contracts for AD’s at Football Bowl Subdivision public schools obtained over the past year by USA TODAY Sports.
In 2022, under the terms of his contract, Arizona State AD Ray Anderson was due a total of $494,000 in bonuses connected to the NCAA Academic Performance Rate (APR) figures of the department overall, as well as those of the football and men’s basketball teams. Anderson’s contract provides for the prospect of many other bonuses, including an amount equal to 50% of his base salary, which had been $950,000, if the football team wins the national championship.
Woodward’s bonus from the women’s basketball team’s championship slightly exceeds the total amount of bonus money that Mulkey will be owed for the team’s on-court achievements this season. She will get $464,000 in payments connected to the team’s top 10 ranking in the final Associated Press media poll and then its round-by-round advance to the title. (She also could get as much as $13,000 in bonus money based on the team’s APR figure.)
The Tigers’ victory in the final will give Mulkey $150,000 of her total, which is less than the maximum she can achieve in a season. For example, LSU did not win the SEC regular season or tournament championship.
Mulkey is working under a contract just over eight years under which her basic annual pay from the school for this season is scheduled to be just under $2.7 million.
She came to LSU after winning three national championships at Baylor.
Kelly is under a 10-year contract scheduled to pay him at least $100 million.
Woodward’s current basic annual compensation from LSU is $1.375 million, but that is set to increase to $1.85 million on May 1.
Follow colleges reporter Steve Berkowitz on Twitter @ByBerkowitz
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