BOWLING GREEN — Scot Loeffler will make more money than his predecessor at Bowling Green, albeit with fewer performance bonuses.
The contract, obtained by The Blade through a public record request, is for five years and $2.6 million. The former offensive coordinator at Boston College’s contract became official on Wednesday.
WATCH: Loeffler and family have strong ties to Wood County
Notables about Loeffler’s agreement with Bowling Green, his first opportunity as a head coach:
Base pay
Loeffler will be paid $525,000 per year at Bowling Green, which places him squarely in the middle of coaches in the Mid-American Conference. He’s the fifth-highest paid coach out of the 11 currently in the league. (Central Michigan is searching for its next coach after firing John Bonamego last week.)
Toledo’s Jason Candle leads MAC coaches at more than $1 million per season. Tim Lester (Western Michigan), Rod Carey (Northern Illinois), and Frank Solich (Ohio) rank second through fourth, respectively.
Loeffler’s salary is a 20 percent increase from Mike Jinks, who Bowling Green fired midway through his third season. Jinks’ most recent contract stipulated $437,228 per year.
Incentives
In terms of performance bonuses, Loeffler’s contract is slightly less favorable from Jinks’ deal. Loeffler will receive a $25,000 bonus when the Falcons win six games, qualify for a bowl game, or win the MAC East Division. He’ll earn a bonus of $12,500 for winning a bowl game or winning MAC coach of the year, and collect a $32,500 bonus if the Falcons win the MAC.
The total of all bonuses cannot exceed $145,000 in a year.
Jinks’ contract had a few differences, namely in the bonus ceiling, which was $182,500. The bonus amounts were the same for Jinks, though there also were additional clauses for playing or beating BCS — now referred to as Power Five — opponents.
The school paid Jinks a $25,000 bonus when the Falcons played against a school from the Big Ten, Pac-12, Southeastern Conference, Big XII, or Atlantic Coast Conference and earned a game guarantee of more than $400,000. Jinks earned a $12,500 bonus for beating a school from any of those conferences.
Loeffler’s contract does not contain either clause.
Jinks’ contract also called for higher bonuses ($18,750 to $10,000) for single-year APR scores or federal graduation rates in the top half of the MAC.
Buyout
These terms are exactly the same as Jinks’ deal. If Bowling Green sacks Loeffler without cause during the course of the contract, which runs through December, 2023, it will be forced the pay him through the life of the deal.
This clause kicked in with Jinks, who was 7-24 at BG. The university must pay Jinks until December, 2020, though the figure can be mitigated if Jinks is hired elsewhere.
If there is cause for a dismissal — such as a serious NCAA violation — Bowling Green can terminate the deal without penalty.
Damages
In the MAC, the financial reality is that its members often lose good head coaches to bigger schools and higher-paying contracts. Winning in the MAC usually leads to other opportunities, and contracts almost always call for damages if a coach terminates the contract before it is completed.
In this regard, Loeffler’s damage amounts are significantly more than Jinks’ contract.
If Loeffler terminates the deal in two or fewer years, he — or, more realistically, another university if he is hired elsewhere — would owe Bowling Green $1 million. The figure dips to $750,000 if terminated between Dec. 16, 2020 and Dec. 15, 2022, and to $500,000 thereafter.
Jinks’ agreement called for $300,000 if he terminated in the first year of the deal.
First Published November 30, 2018, 5:30 p.m.
