Gary Pinkel set to stay at MU through 2015

He will be guaranteed $2.3 million each year.

By Daniel Everson

Published Dec. 5, 2008

Coach Gary Pinkel is set to lead the Tigers football team for years to come.

The athletic department announced a new seven-year contract extension for the head football coach last week. Pinkel's new deal runs through the 2015 season and guarantees him $2.3 million per year.

Department spokesman Chad Moller said Pinkel's performance coaching the Tigers for the last eight years warranted the extension. Under Pinkel, he said, the football program has achieved record ticket sales and revenue while the team has become highly ranked at a national level.

"I think it's self-evident that coach Pinkel has built this program to heights we haven't seen here in upwards of 40 years," Moller said.

Moller said a long-term commitment to Pinkel made sense because many feel his presence over the last eight years has been an important factor in the team's success.

Moller said Athletic Director Mike Alden began negotiations with Pinkel around the beginning of the season. The Board of Curators approved the extension in a conference call on Nov. 25.

"I think there was an understanding by the board that keeping Coach Pinkel as head football coach was an important priority," said Tony Luetkemeyer, student representative to the Board of Curators.

Under his current contract, which would have expired Dec. 31, 2012, Pinkel earns a guaranteed $1.85 million per year. Pinkel's base salary under the new contract will be $350,000, which is $70,000 higher than the base salary of his existing contract.

Under the new contract, which takes effect on Jan. 1, the rest of Pinkel's guaranteed $2.3 million will come from, among other things, public relations work, apparel deals and appearances on television and radio shows.

Pinkel's raise comes as MU's faculty pay ranks 33rd out of 34 members of the public division of the Association of American Universities. Moller and Luetkemeyer emphasized that the athletic budget funds Pinkel's salary, so the extension does not affect MU's general budget, which funds faculty salaries.

The athletic budget is self-generating, Moller said. Luetkemeyer said profits from the sale of tickets, broadcast rights and merchandise help provide the money to pay Pinkel's salary, but that tuition and tax dollars do not.

"I think it's really important to understand that this money is not coming out of the university's general budget," Luetkemeyer said.

Moller said the department understands that, even though the athletic budget funds coaches' pay by itself, not everyone looks favorably on the discrepancy between the salaries of faculty and coaches.

But, he said, in today's college football environment, where other schools are looking to sign top coaches at high prices, teams must pay to compete.

"That's how the market is for football coaches," he said. "We wanted to make a statement that we are committed to Gary Pinkel, and we want to keep him here long-term."

It has been widely reported that the University of Washington was looking to hire Pinkel.

Pinkel's extension also followed the Nov. 17 announcement of a UM system-wide hiring freeze by President Gary Forsee. In a news conference last week, though, Chancellor Brady Deaton explained that the hiring freeze does not apply to the Pinkel extension.

"Pinkel is not a new hire, so his salary adjustment is different," he said. "He was given a raise because we don't want to lose him."