Getting a bowl bid signifies a successful season, the extra bowl practices help with player development, and the bowl experience is often a welcome reward for players after a long season. For the coaching staff, it usually means a nice holiday bonus.
Getting a bowl bid signifies a successful season, the extra bowl practices help with player development, and the bowl experience is often a welcome reward for players after a long season.
For the coaching staff, it usually means a nice bonus.
With the Cougars finishing 8-4 and earning a bid to the Sun Bowl, Washington State’s athletic department expects to pay out $416,667 in bowl and performance-related bonuses.
Holiday bonuses
Guaranteed bowl bonuses per coach/staff member:
Mike Leach, head coach: $75,000 (*gets an extra $25,000 for Pac-12 Coach of the Year)
Bill Moos, athletic director: $50,000
Alex Grinch, defensive coordinator: $35,416
Joe Salave’a, defensive line: $27,083
David Yost, inside receivers: $20,125
Roy Manning, outside linebackers: $19,708
Clay McGuire, offensive line: $19,708
Jim Mastro, running backs: $18,875
Ken Wilson, linebackers: $18,875
Graham Harrell, outside receivers: $17,625
Eric Mele, special teams: $15,985
Dave Emerick, chief of staff: $15,125
Antonio Huffman, director of football operations: $8,875
Per terms of his contract, WSU coach Mike Leach earned $75,000 for getting the Cougars to a bowl game, and he will pocket an extra $25,000 for being named co-Pac-12 Coach of the Year (along with Stanford’s David Shaw).
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WSU athletic director Bill Moos gets $50,000 for the Cougars’ bowl game.
As part of their contracts, each assistant coach gets a guaranteed bonus equivalent to one month’s salary. The amount varies based on what each assistant makes, with defensive coordinator Alex Grinch (who makes $425,000 annually) getting a bonus of $35,416, while special-teams coach Eric Mele (who makes $191,500 annually) gets a bonus of $15,958.
Director of football operations Antonio Huffman and Leach’s chief of staff and senior associate athletic director Dave Emerick also get guaranteed bonuses. Huffman will pocket $8,875, while Emerick gets $15,125.
In total, WSU will pay out $367,375 in guaranteed bonuses.
But the Cougars also will disburse $46,292 in “permissive” bonuses to auxiliary football staff. WSU senior associate athletic director and CFO Matt Kleffner said these bonuses are not contractual, but given out at the university’s discretion.
WSU’s football strength-coaching staff falls into this category. Head strength coach Jason Loscalzo will get a bonus of $18,875. Assistant strength coach Tyson Brown gets $5,417, while assistants Marco Candido and John Graves will each pocket $4,167.
Quality control assistants Joel Filani and Brian Odom will each get a $5,000 bonus, while defensive assistant David Lose gets a $4,167 bonus.
Assistants leave for North Texas
Washington State outside receivers coach Graham Harrell is leaving to become the offensive coordinator at North Texas, a source has confirmed.
Football Scoop broke the news Thursday afternoon, the day after announcing that Joel Filani, an offensive quality-control assistant at WSU, was leaving to join Seth Littrell’s new staff in Denton as the wide-receivers coach.