In a ho-hum sort of move, the University of Kansas has given Mark Mangino a settlement of $3.0 million after his resignation due to the controversy stemming from his treatment of players. Mangino had four years remaning on his contract at $2.3 million a year or $9.2 million total.
The $3.0 million is about the number Colorado would have needed to pay Dan Hawkins to make a change in leadership. Luckily for Kansas, they didn't need to pay the $9.2 million that would have been due to Mangino if he needed to be bought out. The same doesn't go for the Buffs as Mike Bohn gave Dan Hawkins an extension after five games in 2008, extending Dan Hawkins' term from the end of 2010 to January 2013. That extension instantly increased Dan Hawkins total buyout from around $1.1 million if they wanted to buyout his originial contract at the end of 2010 to around $3.0 million.
Further, Dan Hawkins makes about $1.0 million a year as the head coach of Colorado. Mark Mangino made $2.3 million a year. Turner Gill, a somewhat "hot topic" coach even more so last year, received a contract worth $10.0 million over 5 years, good for $2.0 million a year. Turner Gill made $265,000 last year at Buffalo, not a bad day for Gill who promises that this job is not a stepping stone to the next one.
Just last year, Kansas gave basketball coach Bill Self a 10 year, $30 million contract after winning the national championship. Jeff Bzdelik, the CU basketball coach, makes $750,000.
Therefore, the Kansas head coaches in their two major sports make $5 million a year plus a $3 million settlement charge to Mangino. The Colorado coaches make roughly $1.75 million a year. Still on the Colorado books is Gary Barnett's buyout from 2005:
The athletic department remains in deeply in debt with the majority of an $8 million loan from the campus and the CU system in 2006 still to be paid off. Part of that debt was caused by the last coaching change when Bohn fired Gary Barnett at the end of the 2005 season and hired Hawkins.
It helps to have a top tier basketball program, it helps to have a well run athletic department and it helps to be able to pay your coaches 2.8 times more than another Big 12 team.
I have been as outspoken as anyone about Dan Hawkins' performance and I struggle how his performance warrants a fifth year but if we are going to pay the next football coach $1.0 million in salary with the limitation of assistant coaches only receiving one year contracts, this cycle of underperformance will continue. Do I think their are coaches out there who can make $1.0 million a year at Colorado that can get the Buffs to 6 - 6 or 7 - 5 and to a bowl game? Absolutely, it's not like we are recruiting to horrible college town, their are plenty of advantages to going to school in Boulder. But the ceiling would probably 7 wins every year, not a bad deal compared to the last four seasons but let's be honest, their isn't a lot of excitement around programs with a ceiling at 7 wins a year.
Nothing new but the main question I think for Mike Bohn now is what are we doing to close the financial gap between programs like Kansas and Missouri in the North? Are we really that far away from Kansas in terms of finances? I know they are probably ahead of us due to their basketball program but 2.8 times?
It once again begs the question: How serious is the administration about it's athletic programs?