How Kansas men's coach Bill Self tops list of highest-paid in college basketball

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A complicated contractual arrangement constructed in 2012 has made Kansas coach Bill Self the nation's highest-paid men's basketball coach a decade later, pushing his total compensation for the 2021-22 season to $10.2 million.

As part of an extension signed last April, which marked the first substantial changes to his contract in nine years, the Jayhawks' longtime coach vested in $4.5 million of deferred retention pay about a year earlier than scheduled.

Combined with his base salary, other forms of annual compensation from the school and his athletically related outside income, the planned windfall bumps Self above the eight-figure mark and — for this one year — past fellow coaching luminaries, including Kentucky's John Calipari, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Villanova's Jay Wright.

Self’s total is the largest single-year amount for a public-school basketball coach since Paste BN Sports began tracking this compensation in 2006-07. Alabama’s Nick Saban established the high for a football coach when he made $11.1 million, not including incentives, in 2017. That amount was boosted by a $4 million signing bonus. Saban is set for $9.9 million in regular annual compensation for the 2022 season.

Self is not the only men’s basketball coach benefitting from an outsized one-time amount this season. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo will receive $4 million if he remains the school’s head coach through April 30. The prospective payout was included in the 2018 iteration of his contract, which states that it would be "in recognition of his long service to the University." Izzo became the Spartans’ head coach in 1995, and was an assistant coach at the school before that.

Self’s payment has roots in the 2012 arrangement, a 10-year deal that included what was termed as a “contingent signing bonus.” But the bonus wasn’t paid at the time — and the contingency that would have triggered payment was Self getting fired. The amount that Self would have been owed in that scenario was dependent on the termination date, but it would have been no less than $4.732 million.

If Self didn’t get fired, and he remained at the school through March 31, 2022, the “contingent signing bonus” was to be replaced by what amounted to a $6 million payment for completing the full contract term.

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This is where it gets tricky.

The $6 million was the end game of two separate 10-year retention agreements. Under one of those plans, Self was annually vesting in payments that actually paid out to Self in 2013 and 2018 and was set to pay out again in 2022. Because Self was vesting in these amounts annually, Paste BN Sports counted that money as part of Self’s annual pay each year.

Under the other plan, Self annually vested in payments for six years and was actually paid in 2015 and 2018. Paste BN Sports counted annually counted this money, as well. But during the final four years of this program, while Self was to be “credited” with $1.5 million for each year completed, there was no annual vesting — and Self would get the $6 million total only if he remained Kansas’ head coach through March 31, 2022. Because Self was not vesting in these amounts, Paste BN Sports counted none of this money

So, by last March, Self had vested in — but not yet received — $2.7 million from the always-annual retention pay plan. And he been credited with — but not yet vested in —$4.5 million from the other retention pay plan.

When the parties worked out the contract extension, they agreed to clear up all of this and start fresh. They agreed that Self would immediately vest in the $4.5 million for which he had only been credited, and the total of $7.2 million would become payable in 2021 rather than 2022.

However, "in the light of economic challenges" posed by the coronavirus pandemic, Self and Kansas also agreed to shift this $7.2 million payment into monthly payments of $100,000 over a seven-year period beginning on April 30, 2021.

Based on Paste BN Sports' methodology, $4.5 million of the $7.2 million is included in Self's 2021-22 compensation since that portion had not been counted in prior years and because the monthly payments "will not be forfeited in the event of termination by either party for any reason, or death or disability," according to Self's contract.

Going forward under what is now a five-year contract that is set to renew by one year annually, Self is scheduled to receive $5.41 million each year — $225,000 as base salary; $2.75 million as consideration for media activities and name, image and likeness use; $2.435 million as an annual retention payment; and a $240,000 annual membership to the private jet charter company Wheels Up "credited to his personal use and at his discretion."

Included in the contract was a clause protecting Self from any potential fallout from allegations of misconduct unearthed during an FBI investigation into corrupt recruiting practices in men's basketball. Kansas agreed that Self could not be fired for cause "due to any current infractions matter that involves conduct that occurred on or prior to" the start of the new agreement.

While expressing the school's deep commitment to Self, who is 545-122 with three trips to the Final Four and one national championship since being hired in 2003, the contract includes a buyout equal to just one year's pay "plus an amount equal to a prorated share of the retention bonus" should the university fire him without cause.

Follow Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg and Steve Berkowitz @ByBerkowitz