ASU AD's proposed deal is for 5 years; base salary starts at $600K
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State's new vice president for athletics Ray Anderson would make a $600,000 base salary on a five-year contract set to go before the Arizona Board of Regents this week, documents show.
The proposed contract also calls for a one-time $200,000 signing bonus for Anderson, who was announced last week as Steve Patterson's successor. Patterson left ASU in November to take the athletic director position at Texas. At the time of his exit, Patterson had a salary of $450,000.
The Board of Regents will discuss the proposed contract at a meeting Wednesday and could vote to approve it.
Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations through the Super Bowl, could double his annual income via academic and athletic performance bonuses. Among the athletic performances bonuses, which are capped at $600,000 total, are:
-- A bonus of 25 percent of annual salary for winning the Directors' Cup or ascending bonuses for finishing in the top 20, top 15, top 10 and top five.
Incoming AD Ray Anderson says he's in for the long haul at Arizona State. Story >>
-- Two weeks salary for each postseason appearance by a team sport excluding football and men's basketball. The same applies to NCAA Championships won in team sports.
-- A bonus of 5 percent of annual salary if ASU football appears in the Pac-12 Championship Game or 12 percent if ASU wins it.
-- A bonus of 15 percent of annual salary if ASU football appears in a BCS bowl game or 20 percent if ASU wins the game.
-- A bonus of 25 percent of annual salary if ASU appears in the BCS National Championship Game (which will be the College Football Playoff beginning next season) or 50 percent if ASU wins the game.
There are also specific performance bonuses for men's basketball, individual sports and coach of the year awards. The proposed deal also includes bonuses for certain achievement in Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Rate, with specific bonuses for football and men's basketball.
The contract also includes an annual retention incentive of $200,000 per year that will be paid upon completion of the term of the contract. Thus, Anderson would be paid $1 million upon the five-year anniversary of the contract's execution.
According to a Sports Business Journal report in 2009, Anderson was making $1.12 million at the time. Though his proposed salary at ASU is unprecedented for the university, it is presumably less than half his current base salary with the NFL. At his introductory press conference, though, Anderson flatly said money was not a key factor in his decision to leave the NFL for ASU.
"I'm like anyone else: I want to be paid fairly, I want to make what's due," Anderson said. "I don't need NFL money. I need gratification and I need the chance to be part of something really special and really dynamic and really life-changing in some instances."
Anderson also called ASU his "dream destination." Three of ASU's previous four athletic directors have left for opportunities elsewhere.
"This is not a stepping stone for me to somewhere else," Anderson said. "This is my destination."
Anderson's proposed contract should, to some degree, back that claim. It calls for "an appropriate non-compete provision," which would put restrictions on Anderson's ability to take another job. Patterson's contract stipulated he could not without consent take an athletic director position at any school in Arizona or at Texas. Anderson's non-compete provision was not specified in the Board of Regents documents.
Like Patterson's contract, Anderson's proposed deal includes the use of two vehicles or a stipend, golf privileges at the ASU Karsten Golf Course, reimbursement of membership fees and monthly dues at a country club, and one-time payment of relocation expenses.
The proposed contract also contains provisions for termination of the contract. Should the contract be terminated for cause, ASU would be liable only for salary and other compensation earned to the point of termination.
ASU would also have the ability to terminate the contract without cause but would be required to pay Anderson a buyout of twice his annual base salary. Were Anderson to be dismissed within the first three years of the contract, though, ASU would be required to pay Anderson 100 percent of his base salary through the remainder of the contract.
Anderson is set to begin at ASU on Feb. 5, following the Super Bowl.
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