Good Morning, Professors! ☀️

Spring is in the air and temperatures are warming up, at least for most of you. I have even heard the "F" word being thrown around ... finals. Whew. 🤬

With that in mind, I wanted to remind you about our $20-per-student Extra Points Classroom deal for any summer school courses you are teaching. This also extends your library access through the summer. If you have any questions about extending access for prep work, just let me know.

You may have also seen our announcement about Extra Points Library 2.0, which includes major improvements, including new analytics tools, updated charts and an AI assistant to make teaching and research a little easier.

Planes, trains, not really, and automobiles?

Yep, it is contract season. Well, to be fair, it is always contract season. But over the last few weeks, I have been diving into some new deals coming into Extra Points Library and wanted to share a few unique clauses that could spark a classroom assignment.

Maybe your students build a contract for a new coach, or maybe they come up with incentive ideas to retain one. We all know the usual perks, like country club memberships, cars, first-class seats on commercial flights, private flights and phone stipends.

First up is what I am calling "The Office" or “Dunder Mifflin” incentive. Yes, that Office. It feels like it was pulled straight from an episode (it may have been). UT Rio Grande Valley’s new men’s basketball coach receives a $5,000 bonus if the program stays on budget.

I have seen a few versions of this over the years, but this remains pretty rare, maybe a handful out of the thousands of contracts I read each year. There are other variations of this Dunder Mifflin-esque incentive, too.

Matt Roberts (College of Charleston AD), for example, has a clause requiring the building of a "strategic reserve" equal to 10% of the annual operating budget by June 30, 2028. If that benchmark is met, he receives a $20,000 annual bonus.

What about a roof over your head? 🏡

Yes, some football coaches, like Jeff Monken at Army or Nick Saban during his time at Alabama, have had housing covered.

But what about beyond that?

Take Stephanie Rempe, the Director of Athletics at Nevada. This is not a one-time relocation payment or a temporary housing package. It is essentially an annual mortgage benefit valued at $30,000 per year.

Another growing clause, especially among football and basketball coaches, is the incentive to get more involved in selling season tickets. Some deals now offer kickbacks or percentages tied to ticket sales.

Jason Eck, the head football coach at the University of New Mexico, has incentives tied to ticket revenue, meaning single-game sales can directly benefit him. He has also been one of the more active coaches in creating promo videos, including spoofs of The Office to help drive attendance. One of the more interesting twists in his deal is that he can earn a bonus and see his program’s budget increase. Win. Win. Win.

To wrap up, let’s look at former Northern Iowa men’s basketball coach Ben Jacobson. His situation was especially unique because of his longevity. He had been at Northern Iowa since 2001, including 20 years as head coach.

His contract had a rare carveout. Not only was there no buyout because of his "lifetime rolling" agreement, but he had also accrued so much vacation time that it had to be capped and accounted for in the contract. That payout was valued at $126,921. So when he left for Utah State, he did not owe a buyout and actually walked out with a pretty nice six-figure check.

If any of your students are working on unique contract incentives or clause ideas, send them my way. I would love to feature them in an AD Simulator game or in an upcoming newsletter.