Coastal Carolina revises and extends head football coach Jamey Chadwell’s contract
With Coastal Carolina in the midst of a dream football season and larger FBS programs taking notice, the school has revised and extended head coach Jamey Chadwell’s contract through the 2027 season.
Chadwell’s potential annual contract value, including all incentives met, places him atop the Sun Belt Conference and among the upper echelon of FBS, according to the university.
The deal also features a comprehensive commitment to the total football program including more investment into assistant coaches and support staff, a more robust incentive structure and strategic investment toward key infrastructure and facility needs, specifically supported through private funding.
The university did not reveal Wednesday the financial specifics of Chadwell’s contract over the next seven years.
Chadwell’s contract was last updated in April 2019, three months after he succeeded Joe Moglia as the third coach in program history.
According to that agreement, he was under contract for two more seasons through June 2023. His salary was set at $375,000 this season with increases of $25,000 in each of the next two years.
This season’s salary is last among the 122 listed salaries of the 130 FBS head coaches in a report by USA Today that was updated last month. USA Today also lists more than 300 FBS assistant coaches in Power Five conferences who are paid a base salary of $375,000 or more.
Eight of the 10 head coaches in the Sun Belt make between $605,000 and $1.005 million, according to USA Today. The outliers this season are Chadwell and Louisiana-Monroe’s Matt Viator, who made $390,000 according to USA Today, but has been fired after going winless this season.
Louisiana’s Billy Napier is the highest paid, while Texas State’s Jake Spavital and Arkansas State’s Blake Anderson, who resigned to accept a job at Utah State and has already been replaced by Butch Jones, all made at least $800,000 this season, minus any reductions in salary that were part of coronavirus pandemic cutbacks, according to USA Today. So Chadwell now figures to be among those coaches in salary.
“I’m beyond joyed, my family and I and our coaching staff, with the commitment from [outgoing president] Dr. [David] DeCenzo, coach Moglia, Matt Hogue our AD, and our incoming president Dr. [Michael T.] Benson,” Chadwell said. “The vision they’ve had for this program when they started in 2016, the transition to FBS, they had a vision, they laid it out and I’m thankful and honored to continue to be a part of this build. It’s a special place with special people.”
Chadwell was recently named the 2020 Werner Ladder American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year and he is among the favorites to win the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year award this season.
CCU (11-0) is No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings and No. 9 in the AP Top 25 Poll, and will play for the Sun Belt Conference championship against No. 19/17 Louisiana at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Brooks Stadium, with a potential berth in a lucrative New Year’s Six bowl at stake.
Chadwell, 43, reportedly met with South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner as a candidate for the Gamecocks head coaching job before Oklahoma assistant Shane Beamer was chosen to replace the fired Will Muschamp, and his name is expected to be mentioned as other head coaching jobs become vacant at the conclusion of the season.
Despite his low base pay, Chadwell can hit performance bonuses this season totaling $1.25 million this season, with an additional $150,000 in academic success bonuses possible. Chadwell would be owed 50 percent of all of those bonuses with the other half going to others in the program including his staff.
Chadwell’s contract this season calls for a $200,000 bonus for a Sun Belt East Division title, $300,000 for a conference championship, $150,000 for a bowl invitation and $200,000 for a bowl victory. Those are all cumulative, so he could collect them all totaling $850,000.
Chadwell also has incentives for season-end rankings in the AP Top 25, Amway Coaches Poll, College Football Playoff rankings or Sagarin rankings. A top 25 ranking earns a $400,000 bonus while a top 50 ranking garners a $250,000 bonus. The Chants are currently in the top 12 of the AP, coaches and CFP rankings.
Chadwell’s contract also includes incentives for classroom performance measured by the Academic Progress Rate that considers eligibility, graduation and student retention of scholarship recipients within the program. An APR between 950 and 965 garners a $50,000 bonus, between 966-980 is worth $100,000, and 981 or above is rewarded with $150,000.
Chadwell’s pay this year will be reduced by 40 unpaid furlough days — 20 mandatory and 20 voluntary — as part of coronavirus-related cuts, according to CCU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Kevin Davis.
Chadwell’s 10 assistants make between $80,000 and $152,000, with the exception of defensive coordinator Chad Staggs, whose salary is $240,000.
Per Chadwell’s contract updated in April 2019, if he were to leave for another FBS program, the buyout amount owed to Coastal from the other institution was merely $150,000.
Chadwell is in his third season as CCU head coach, though the first was an interim position. In his first season at CCU in 2017 — CCU’s first in the Sun Belt though it still wasn’t a full FBS member — he was elevated from offensive coordinator to interim head coach just before the start of fall training camp when Moglia took a medical sabbatical for the season. The team went 3-8.
The Chants went 5-7 last year under Chadwell after Moglia stepped down following a 5-7 record in the 2018 season, during which Chadwell was the offensive coordinator and associate head coach.
Prior to his four seasons in Conway, Chadwell had success at three previous head coaching stops.
The Tennessee native and graduate of East Tennessee State went 35-14 in four seasons at Charleston Southern (2013-16), with Big South Conference titles the last two years. He came to CCU with a 60-36 record over eight seasons with stints at Delta State (2012) and North Greenville (2009-11), where he went 20-6 in his final two seasons.
Moglia added Chadwell to the staff in 2017 and made him associate head coach with the intention of eventually handing him the reins of the program, which he did when he resigned to take other roles within the university in January 2019.
“I especially want to give credit to coach Moglia,” Chadwell said. “He believed in us when maybe a lot of other people didn’t, so without him I wouldn’t be sitting here today. So I’m very thankful for him and his leadership and really his friendship. I’m excited about being a Chanticleer for years to come and thankful to be a part of the community and university.”
Sun Belt Salaries in 2020
| Coach | School | Salary |
| Billy Napier | Louisiana | $1,005,000 |
| Blake Anderson + | Arkansas State | $850,000 |
| Jake Spavital | Texas State | $800,000 |
| Shawn Clark | Appalachian State | $750,000 |
| Chad Lunsford | Georgia Southern | $680,000 |
| Chip Lindsey | Troy | $675,000 |
| Steve Campbell | South Alabama | $617,400 |
| Shawn Elliott | Georgia State | $604,800 |
| Matt Viator # | Louisiana-Monroe | $390,000 |
| Jamey Chadwell | Coastal Carolina | $375,000 |
* SOURCE: USA Today
+ - Replaced by Butch Jones after taking head coaching job at Utah State
# - Fired, job remains open
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 12:04 PM.
