How CCU football coach Jamey Chadwell’s contract could pay more than $3 million per year
Coastal Carolina football coach Jamey Chadwell will be paid a base salary between $850,000 and $1.15 million over each of the next seven years, with increased annual performance bonuses and a hefty buyout for termination without cause, according to details of Chadwell’s new contract through 2027.
Coastal announced a contract revision and extension on Dec. 16, but did not release financial terms, proclaiming only that the annual value, including all incentives met, placed Chadwell “atop the Sun Belt Conference and among the upper echelon of FBS.”
Though he won’t be among the more than 80 Football Bowl Subdivision coaches making $1 million or more in base pay this upcoming season, according to a report by USA Today, Chadwell’s contract is incentive-laden. He and his staff can supplement their pay with performance bonuses totaling up to $2.6 million annually.
Chadwell’s contract calls for a $400,000 bonus for a Sun Belt Conference East Division title, $600,000 for a conference championship, $300,000 for a bowl invitation and $400,000 for a bowl victory. A year-end top-50 ranking in the College Football Playoff ranking, AP poll, coaches poll or Sagarin rankings earns $500,000 and a top-25 ranking earns $600,000 – the ranking bonuses are not cumulative.
There are additional bonuses 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 $100,000 bonus, between 966-980 is worth $200,000, and 981 or above is rewarded with $300,000.
Chadwell will receive 50 percent of the bonuses, and 50 percent will be distributed to his assistants, staff and “program contributors” at the discretion of Chadwell and chairman of athletics Joe Moglia, with required approval from university president Michael T. Benson.
The 2020 bonuses were capped at $1.4 million, and the staff hit at least $1.05 million, pending up to $150,000 in academic incentives. The lone football bonus that wasn’t achieved was a bowl victory.
CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue said last year the bonus payments must come from athletics-generated revenue including Sun Belt distributions, bowl game payments, ticket sales, royalties, sponsorships, licensing and potentially contributions from the Chanticleer Athletic Foundation, the university’s nonprofit that provides financial assistance to athletics.
Chadwell, 43, also received a payment of nearly $29,000 in December via the new contract, which was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
His base salary of $850,000 this year is a 113% increase from the $400,000 he was set to make in his previous contract, and his base pay increases $50,000 each year through 2027.
If the university fires Chadwell without cause: he is contracted to receive 50 percent of his remaining base salary through 2027 if fired before 2023, 75 percent of his remaining base salary if fired between 2023 and 2025, and 100 percent of it if fired in either 2026 or 2027.
The total buyout compensation must be paid within a year of Chadwell’s termination, and the contract allows the university to source the funds from the CAF.
The university is now more protected financially if Chadwell leaves for another NCAA or professional coaching job. If he leaves before Dec. 20, Chadwell must pay the university a buyout of $1.15 million. His buyout decreases to $950,000 in 2022, and drops incrementally each year to $350,000 between Dec. 20, 2026-27.
His buyout was merely $150,000 under his previous contract.
Chadwell also has access to a courtesy vehicle and country club membership in Horry County.
There are stipulations in the contract that reduce or decline bonus pay due to misconduct that results in disciplinary action.
Chadwell reports to Moglia and shall meet with Hogue at least quarterly. He must notify Moglia or Benson before entering discussions for another coaching job, and is forbidden from outside employment that isn’t approved in writing by them.
Earning the new contract
Coastal went 11-1 this past season with a 37-34 loss in overtime to Liberty in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl, finished the regular season ranked ninth in the AP Top 25 Poll, 11th in the Amway Coaches Poll and 12th in the College Football Playoff rankings, and was a co-champion of the Sun Belt Conference with AP No. 15 Louisiana (10-1). CCU was ranked 14th in the final AP and coaches polls.
CCU went 8-0 in the conference and defeated Louisiana 30-27 on Oct. 5, but was named co-champion after the league championship game scheduled for Dec. 19 at Brooks Stadium was canceled due to coronavirus cases within the CCU program.
The Chants posted two wins over FBS top 25 nationally-ranked opponents BYU and Louisiana – the first two in program history – and four wins over top 50 opponents.
Chadwell has been piling up awards for CCU’s season.
His national coach of the year awards include: The Associated Press, Sporting News, CBS Sports/247Sports, Walter Camp as selected by a vote of FBS head coaches and sports information directors, Eddie Robinson as selected by the Football Writers Association of America, The Premier Players Inc. determined via online fan polls, Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Grant Teaff award, and Home Depot Coach of the Year Award as selected by ESPN and ABC college football analysts.
He was also named the 2020 Paul “Bear” Bryant Group of 5 Conference Coach of the Year, Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year and Sun Belt Coach of the Year, and is a finalist for the George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year.
Chadwell was rumored to be a candidate for head coach openings at Vanderbilt and South Carolina, and was reportedly among the finalists interviewed by Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner before he hired Oklahoma assistant Shane Beamer to replace Will Muschamp.
The Chants, who were picked to finish last in the Sun Belt in a preseason coaches’ poll, earned 16 selections to the 2020 All-Sun Belt team, including 10 on the first team, and five of the conference’s six individual awards: Player and Freshman of the Year (quarterback Grayson McCall); Defensive Player of the Year (defensive end Tarron Jackson); Newcomer of the Year (cornerback D’Jordan Strong) and Coach of the Year (Chadwell).
Chadwell just completed his third season as CCU head coach and fourth season at the school. His contract was last updated in April 2019, three months after he succeeded 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 in 2020 with increases of $25,000 in each of the next two years.
The 2020 salary was last among the 122 listed salaries of the 130 FBS head coaches in the USA Today report that was updated in November. USA Today also lists more than 300 FBS assistant coaches in Power Five conferences who were paid a base salary of $375,000 or more in 2020.
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 past season were Chadwell and Louisiana-Monroe’s Matt Viator, who made $390,000 according to the newspaper, but was fired after going winless last 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 been replaced by Butch Jones, all made at least $800,000 in 2020, minus any reductions in salary that were part of coronavirus pandemic cutbacks, according to USA Today.
Chadwell’s pay this school 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.
His 10 assistants made between $80,000 and $152,000 in 2020, according to their contracts in existence at the start of the season, with the exception of defensive coordinator Chad Staggs, whose salary was $240,000.
Chadwell’s contract
CCU head football coach Jamey Chadwell’s base salary through 2027
| Year | Salary |
| 2021 | $850,000 |
| 2022 | $900,000 |
| 2023 | $950,000 |
| 2024 | $1,000,000 |
| 2025 | $1,050,000 |
| 2026 | $1,100,000 |
| 2027 | $1,150,000 |
Annual bonuses
Annual performance bonuses to be paid to Chadwell and his staff.
| Success Metric * | 2020 | 2021-27 |
| Division title | $200,000 | $400,000 |
| Conference title | $300,000 | $600,000 |
| Bowl invitation | $150,000 | $300,000 |
| Bowl victory | $200,000 | $400,000 |
| Top 50 ranking | $250,000 | $500,000 |
| Top 25 ranking | $400,000 | $600,000 |
| + APR 950-965 | $50,000 | $100,000 |
| APR 966-980 | $100,000 | $200,000 |
| APR > 980 | $150,000 | $300,000 |
| Total possible | $1,400,000 | $2,600,000 |
* Division and bowl categories are cumulative, rankings and academic metrics are not cumulative.
+ APR: Academic Progress Rate
