While Mark Pope’s contract details were released via an open records request last month, his contract was made available to the public on Monday.
For reference, Pope signed a five-year, $27.5 million deal with Kentucky, which puts him in the top 10 of highest-paid coaches in the country and ties him for third in the SEC with Nate Oats (Alabama, $5 million), behind Bruce Pearl (Auburn, $5.7 million) and Rick Barnes (Tennessee, $5 million).
That excludes performance incentives:
Win NCAA National Championship – $500,000 OR
Final Four Appearance – $250,000 OR
Elite Eight Appearance – $100,000 OR
Sweet 16 Appearance – $50,000
Plus the following:
Regular Season SEC Championship (or share of) – $100,000 AND
SEC Tournament Championship – $50,000 AND
Cumulative Team GPA of 3.0 or greater – $25,000 AND
Team APR of 975 or greater – $25,000
In the case of a Sweet 16 appearance, Pope also receives an automatic one-year extension.
In the case that Pope is ever terminated without cause, aka fired, he will receive 75% of the remainder of his contract, which can be paid in monthly installments.
As for his buyout, it will be 33% of the remainder of his contract if Mitch Barnhart remains as Athletic Director. That number drops to 20% if Barnhart retires or is replaced.
Cody Fueger and Mark Fox
The contract details of the Pope’s first two assistant coach hires were also released, as Cody Fueger and Mark Fox’s deals are a little more straightforward.
Fueger signed the larger deal of them, a two-year, $1 million dollar deal, while Fox signed just a one-year, $200,000 deal.
Both have the following performance incentives:
Win NCAA National Championship – $100,000 OR
Final Four Appearance – $50,000 OR
Elite Eight Appearance – $30,000 OR
Sweet 16 Appearance – $20,000
Plus the following:
Regular Season SEC Championship (or share of) – $30,000 AND
SEC Tournament Championship – $20,000
The details of assistants Alvin Brooks and Jason Hart should be released soon, as they were hired soon after Fox and Fueger.