Chizik's contract loaded with performance incentives

As goes Auburn, so go the extra zeroes in Gene Chizik’s bank account.

Chizik’s contract, which was released Monday to the Opelika-Auburn News and other media outlets, is chock full of incentives to win.

In a hypothetical sense, if Chizik were to guide Auburn to an undefeated, national championship season and receive all the postseason recognition that typically comes as a result, he would receive a combination of bonuses that would come close to matching his annual salary.

“I know this is a business,” athletic director Jay Jacobs said in December. “We’re going to build it heavy on incentives, so production gets you more money. That’s how we’re going to do it.”

Chizik, whose contract runs through 2013, will make an annual salary of $1.9 million. The funding for it comes from three separate areas: base salary ($500,000), Personal Endorsements fee ($700,000) and the encompassment of a variety of media obligations ($700,000).

A bevy of incentives, the majority of which are cumulative, help make the contract 27 pages in length and gives Chizik an opportunity for a much more lucrative income.

* If Auburn scores .930 on the annual Academic Performance Ratings, Chizik will earn an extra $25,000. A score of .950 gets him $50,000 and a perfect 1.00 nets $75,000.

When APR ratings are released in May, Chizik won’t have anything hinging on it because he didn’t coach the team in 2008. The Tigers scored a .949 for the 2007-08 calendar year.

* Victory bonuses: Chizik receives $75,000 for 10 wins, $100,000 for 11, $125,000 for 12, $150,000 for 13, $200,000 for 14. These are not cumulative.

* A trip to the SEC Championship nets $100,000. Winning that game is good for $200,000 more.

* Making a bowl game, BCS or non-BCS, nets $50,000.

* A finish in the top 5 in the Associated Press or ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll is good for $100,000.

* If Chizik is named SEC coach of the year from either the media or coaches, he earns $100,000. Winning National Coach of the Year from either the American Football Coaches Association, AP, Walter Camp, Home Depot or if he wins the Bryant Award will net another $100,000.

* If Auburn wins the BCS national championship, Chizik will collect $500,000.

Also benefitting Chizik will be forgiveness on the debt he currently has with the university for covering his $750,000 buyout with Iowa State. Each year Chizik coaches at Auburn, the university will forgive $150,000, so if Chizik fulfills the full length of the contract, he owes nothing.

Chizik is also eligible for any other performance-based bonuses the university deems fitting. He has been granted two cars with free gas, maintenance and insurance.

If he voluntarily leaves, Chizik owes the university whatever remaining base salary is left on his contract. If Auburn fires Chizik without cause, it owes him the remaining base salary, but Chizik must show “reasonable efforts” to gain other employment. When he does find new employment, the university would then owe him the difference in salaries — if there is one.

Tommy Tuberville received $5.1 million — the amount stipulated in his buyout — from Auburn, even though he resigned. Tuberville had no such provision about finding future employment.

Chizik’s annual salary is tied for 7th-highest in the SEC with Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin and is tied for 21st in the nation with Southern Methodist’s June Jones.

Jacobs said Chizik took about $500,000 less than Auburn was willing to offer so he could have more money to hire assistants.

Auburn’s assistants will make a combined $2.56 million annually for the next two seasons.

“That was his plan from the very beginning, and it’s obviously served us well,” Jacobs said. “They continue to increase because our fans want results sooner than later, and it’s just the nature of the business we’re in. There’s a scoreboard at the end of every Saturday.”

The only adjustment that has been made to the assistants’ salaries since they were confirmed in May was tight end coach/special teams coordinator Jay Boulware’s. He will now make $210,000 per season instead of $180,000.

Aside from defensive coordinator Ted Roof, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor, whose contracts last until 2012, all assistants’ contracts span two years.

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