Utah Valley University will pay head basketball coach Mark Pope a base salary of $1.275 million over the course of his new six-year contract.
Pope, 46, signed the extension earlier this month, with the Wolverines coming off their most successful season in school history. The Salt Lake Tribune recently obtained a copy of the agreement through an open records request.
“Our main purpose is an educational one, but we can’t really be what we are supposed to be as a university without a terrific athletics program, what it says about the university, the values that it incorporates, and the prominence that it gives to the institution,” UVU President Matthew Holland said when Pope’s deal was announced in early June. “We’ve made this a real investment and what’s exciting about today is that it [is] not only affirming Mark for what we’ve done the last number of years but it’s a tremendous signal about where we are moving forward, not just athletically but as a whole institution.”
Pope’s salary begins at $200,000 next season and it will increase by $5,000 each year of the deal. The coach will also receive $25,000 annually for his media obligations and an annual retention bonus of $25,000.
As part of his deal, Pope gets a membership to the Riverside Country Club, a university vehicle, 10 season tickets for the basketball games, and annual lodging and travel to the NCAA Final Four.
Pope’s deal also includes a number of incentives that are academic and performance based. Pope would get a $25,000 bonus if the university receives at least $150,000 in guaranteed “pay games”. (Last season, the Wolverines got $175,000 for playing games at Duke and Kentucky.) He would receive a $20,000 bonus if the Wolverines were champions of the Western Athletic Conference. He would receive $20,000 if he were named the WAC coach of the year.
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