Over the course of Mack Brown’s coaching tenure at the University of Texas, the Longhorn football team has seen plenty of success on a national scale. There is little doubt that the program is better of now than when he arrived in the late 1990s.
Recently, primarily due to the defections of two quarterbacks and other transfers, and the less than stellar 13-12 record over the past two seasons, doubts began to surface about Brown’s long-term future on the Forty Acres.
In a pronounced move to quell these doubts, the University’s Board of Regents granted Mack Brown a four-year contract extension through 2020, which includes annual raises of approximately $100 thousand per year and keeps his salary at a marker around $5.2 million per year.
On the surface, this extension is a nod to Mack Brown’s entire body of work at Texas and an indication to present and future recruiting classes that there is stability among the coaching ranks at Texas– stability that will equal renewed success.
When one digs a little deeper, however, it’s obvious that there were compromises made to ensure that this deal got done.
According to this article, Brown’s contract buyout is set at $3.5 million and drops every year he remains at Texas. There’s your kicker.
Texas is making a commitment to Brown in the short-term, but by leveraging a decreasing buyout over the life of the extension, they are also providing themselves an easy out to part ways if things become dicey.
Contract extensions always show a certain measure of faith in a coach’s ability to continue to deliver a successful product on the field, but never take these extensions only at face value.
There is always wheeling and dealing that takes place behind the scenes to ensure that the needs of both parties involved are met.
The Board of Regents got what they wanted with the reductive buyout clause and Mack Brown got what he wanted– the continued air of stability and consistency for the Texas football program.
It’s all about compromise and these two sides know it well.
Just ask ESPN.
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