Befitting her team’s NCAA championship and undefeated record, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley ended up lapping the women’s college basketball public-school coaching field when it comes to bonuses this season for team performance.
She finishes the season with $680,000 in bonuses, to go with her $3.1 million in basic annual compensation from the school. That’s the maximum she could achieve under her contract.
The agreement includes 11 steps to reach the maximum, beginning with $15,000 for winning at least 11 Southeastern Conference regular season games and ending with $15,000 for the team finishing in the top 25 of either the USA TODAY Coaches poll or the Associated Press media poll. Both of the final polls were published Monday.
In between, Staley gained $100,000 for sweeping the SEC regular season and tournament titles in the same season; $500,000 for the NCAA title; and $25,000 apiece for SEC and national coach-of-the-year honors.
The next-highest bonus total belongs to NCAA runner-up Iowa’s Lisa Bluder, who will pick up $310,000, according to tracking by USA TODAY Sports based on contracts acquired through open-records requests.
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However, in addition to the bonuses, Bluder also is due a pair of one-year contract extensions and a $150,000 pay increase that is set to become effective July 1. The two added years will extend her agreement with the school through June 30, 2031. In combination with the pay increase, they will add $3.85 million to the scheduled value of her contract, with $2.3 million of that guaranteed.
Bluder’s basic compensation from Iowa for her current contract year is $1.4 million.
Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma had the third-highest season bonus total at $262,500. The Huskies lost to Iowa in the national semifinals.
He was followed by North Carolina State’s Wes Moore, whose total increased to $200,000 on Monday when he added $50,000 for the Wolfpack finishing among the top 15 teams in either of the final polls (they were No. 4 in both). N.C. State lost to South Carolina in the national semifinals.
MORE:USA TODAY Sports' searchable database for women's college basketball coaches compensation
Below is an itemized, school-by-school list for all public-school coaches whose teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 16, alphabetical by school.
In addition to those, the top bonus totals belonged to:
Mississippi's Yolett McPhee-McCuin ($105,000); Kansas State's Jeff Mittie ($80,400); North Carolina's Courtney Banghart ($80,000);
Nebraska's Amy Williams ($71,500); Oklahoma's Jennie Baranczyk ($65,000); Ohio State's Kevin McGuff ($60,000); Alabama's Kristy Curry, Kansas' Jeff Schneider and Texas A&M's Joni Taylor ($50,000 each).
The list does not take into account contingencies that could alter or prevent payment of bonuses, such as academic achievement by players, the coach's departure from the school, future investigations and/or sanctions related to rules violations. It also does not include bonuses for national coach-of-the-year honors not yet announced, team academic performance, attendance, season-ticket sales, or the value of tickets or perks tied to tournament participation.
This also does not include bonuses and/or pay increases for assistant coaches, staff and athletics directors that also may be resulting from these achievements.
Amounts for coaches at private schools are not available because those institutions are not required to release their employment contracts.
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