Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/877736
Lions were vying for championships on
a regular basis. So it was no surprise
when Penn State announced on Aug. 18
that it had extended Franklin's contract,
nor was it a surprise when Franklin said
that the most important aspect of the
new pact was the sense of continuity
that it helped foster.
"We have started to build something
here that I think can really be special," he
said. "It provides stability obviously for
my family but it also provides stability
for my assistant coaches. It provides
stability for their families. It provides
stability for our players. It provides sta-
bility in recruiting – all those types of
things."
The new contract extends through the
2022 season and includes $32 million in
guaranteed money along with $2.7 mil-
lion in annual retention bonuses. With
an average salary of $5.78 million per
year, he became the fourth-highest-
paid coach in the country according to
figures compiled by USA Today, al-
though he was leapfrogged a week later
by Clemson's Dabo Swinney, who signed
an eight-year extension on Aug. 25 that
will be worth $6.75 million per year.
Under the terms of Franklin's pact,
which replaces a contract that was set to
expire after the 2019 season, his guaran-
teed annual compensation starts at $4.6
million this year and increases annually.
He'll receive $4.8 million next year,
$5.65 million in 2019, $5.95 million in
2020, $6.45 million in 2021 and $7.25
million in 2022. Those numbers include
$2.2 million annually in radio/TV fees
and $500,000 per year from Nike. They
also include a series of retention
bonuses that begin at $300,000 per year
for the first four years of the contract
before jumping to $500,000 in 2021 and
$1 million in 2022.
There are also a series of performance
bonuses that could boost his salary sub-
stantially. There are incentives for,
among other accomplishments, winning
the Big Ten Championship Game
($350,000), appearing in a New Year's
Six bowl ($300,000), qualifying for the
College Football Playoff ($400,000) and
winning the national championship
($800,000). He will earn $100,000 if
he's named Big Ten Coach of the Year
and $150,000 if he receives national
Coach of the Year honors. The sum of his
bonuses cannot exceed $1 million per
year.
If Franklin were to leave, there is a
buyout clause that would require him to
pay back a portion of that salary. He
would owe Penn State $2 million if he
left after the 2017 season and $1 million
after any subsequent season. It's possi-
ble that his buyout could exceed those
figures depending on whether any of his
assistants are retained by the incoming
coach. The contact states that his buy-
out would "not be less than the Univer-
sity's aggregate financial obligation to
the assistant coaches who are not re-
tained by the next head coach."
A year ago, Franklin was the 11th-
highest-paid coach in the country and
the fourth-highest-paid coach in the Big
Ten, based on calculations by USA
Today. Michigan's Jim Harbaugh ranked
first nationally at just over $9 million,
while Ohio State's Urban Meyer was
third at just over $6 million and Iowa's
Kirk Ferentz 10th at $4.5 million.
Franklin's record at Penn State was 28-
Did Bob Shoop resign or was he forced
out? That's the question at the center of
a legal dispute between Penn State and
its former defensive
coordinator – a dis-
pute that is now in
mediation in the
hope that an out-of-
court settlement can
be reached.
In June, Penn State