When Kentucky announced a new long-term deal with John Calipari in 2019, it didn’t explicitly refer to the deal as a “lifetime” contract, but UK noted that the agreement would “offer him the opportunity to end his career in Lexington.” The deal, which was widely reported as a “lifetime contract,” differs in key ways from an agreement that Kansas announced with coach Bill Self on Tuesday that will reportedly compensate him $53 million.
In revealing its new contract with Self, Kansas did refer to the deal as a “lifetime contract,” immediately conjuring comparisons to the mega-deal Calipari signed with the Wildcats. At the time, Calipari’s new contract made him the highest-paid coach in the sport, a title he retained until the announcement of Self’s contract on Tuesday. But the key difference between their deals is that Self’s includes a five-year “rolling term” with another year automatically tacked on at the conclusion of each season unless otherwise specified. The deal, and the language within it, essentially guarantees that Self will never have fewer than four seasons remaining on his contract for the rest of his career.
While Calipari’s 2019 deal was unprecedented in length (10 years) and financial scope ($86 million), no such automatic renewal was included. However, it does include a provision that will allow Calipari to transition into the role of “athletics director/university representative” beginning with the 2024-25 season. That position would pay Calipari $950,000 per year and continue at least until the expiration of the original 10-year contract in 2029. No such clause exists in Self’s contract.
Below are the key similarities — and differences — between the contracts of two college basketball giants and what it means for their respective programs. We’ll also dive into other precedents in college athletics and theorize about why a school and coach might, and might not, consider agreeing to terms on such a deal.
It’s all in the phrasing
While Calipari’s record-shattering deal in 2019 was termed a lifetime contract, the truth is that it was not. It’s simply a lucrative, long-term deal that offers Calipari the opportunity to continue collecting a nice salary until June of 2029 should he choose to stop coaching at any point after the 2023-24 season.
Calipari will be 70 when the contract expires, so the deal may have soothed any worries he had at age 60 about remaining gainfully employed for another decade and staved off advances that, in 2019, were being made by UCLA before it hired Mick Cronin. But if, hypothetically, the Wildcats decided to fire Calipari after the 2027-28 season — when just one year remains on his deal — he would only be owed 75% of the remaining contract, which would be $6.5 million.
In Self’s case, there will never be a point when the Jayhawks can fire him without cause and owe him less than $23.1 million, per the terms of the new agreement. For now, though, Calipari’s 75% buyout rate insulates him quite well. If the Wildcats were to fire him after the 2023-24 season with five years still remaining on the contract, they would owe him roughly $33.4 million.
Self’s deal similar to Izzo’s
The new deal for Self puts him in his own tier from a salary perspective as the highest-paid coach in the sport — above Calipari and well above even Tom Izzo, another institution to his respective school at Michigan State who is also a Hall of Famer. But Izzo’s deal from last year mirrors Self’s new agreement with similar renewal terms. It features a five-year rollover component identical to the one Self signed and positions Izzo as a “Spartan for life.” However, Izzo’s new 2022 extension did not publicly include any components about a post-coaching career launch into an ambassador role.
All roads lead to Coach K
Contract details for Mike Krzyzewski — a Hall of Fame coach who retired from Duke in 2022 as the all-time winningest coach in men’s college hoops — are sparse because of his employment at a private university. However, fresh off of winning his third of five national championships with the Blue Devils, he signed in November 2001 a deal that was at the time deemed to be the first “lifetime” contract in college athletics. The deal did not have a rollover component but spanned 10 years, running through the retirement age of 65. It was believed it would compensate him to the end of his coaching career, though he continued coaching more than a decade past it. Duke officials at the time said the contract was open-ended despite the 10-year term and could roll over for longer, though details of any rollover language are not available.
Krzyzewski transitioned to a non-coaching, ambassador role at Duke following his retirement, a role in which he still serves. He is also serving as a special adviser to the NBA.
Benefits of a rollover contract
The very idea of a rollover contract is presented frequently, and often perceived as, a lifetime deal. In truth, it’s a way to present to fans and athletes safety and security while providing flexibility to both the school and the coach.
Across college athletics, contract lengths frequently span longer than five-year terms. Calipari’s 10-year deal, Mick Cronin’s recently-renewed six-year deal and Todd Golden’s six-year contract signed last year with Florida are among many examples. A five-year rolling deal that automatically renews in many cases will, in theory, provide a more maneuverable path to wiggling out of such an agreement if circumstances dictate while projecting stability. Most recruits will consider a different school if a coach is a lame-duck, but with a continuously rolling five-year plan in place, high school seniors — even if they stay five years in college — can expect to commit to a coach and play for them for the duration of their college experience.
In October 2021, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy agreed to what the school described as a “perpetual five-year contract” tying him to his alma mater essentially for his entire coaching career if he so chooses. The year prior, his previously agreed-to five-year rollover deal was reduced to a four-year rollover term, which Gundy had agreed to — in addition to a $1 million salary reduction — following a review of the program stemming from the OAN scandal.
The 2021 deal was similar to one he signed in 2017, which was considered a lifetime contract with terms of a five-year rollover that automatically renewed unless specified within seven days of the end of the season by the university. It was well ahead of its time in college football. It’s unclear if he has a clause in his deal regarding a post-coaching career, but in Gundy’s case specifically, his buyout — even though the length of his contract is perpetually five years — is among the highest in college football.
Other giants of the sport like Nick Saban, who signed a 10-year deal with Alabama in 2022 at 71 years old, and Dabo Swinney, who signed a 10-year deal just weeks later, have long-term deals in place similar to Calipari but are not believed to have rollover terms within them. In the case of Saban, he likely has the agency to request a post-coaching ambassador role (or mayoral role or senatorship role).
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