Lance Leipold’s Kansas Salary Starts at Over $2 Million
Lance Leipold is heading into one of the biggest rebuilds in the history of college football with the Kansas Jayhawks. And now we have some information on what his contract will look like. Leipold has a six-year contract worth $16.5 million.
Leipold will make $2.2 million his first season. Then it will jump to $2.4 million, $2.6 million and up to $3.3 million in 2026, the final year of the deal.
Leipold’s is making much more than he was at Buffalo, where he was paid $624,300 each year. He still will begin his tenure as the lowest-paid coach in the Big 12, according to USA Today’s database of coaching salaries.
Kansas also agreed to pay Leipold’s $600,000 buyout from Buffalo.
Meantime, there is a penalty if Leipold leaves KU for another coaching position. This is an important part of a deal for a coach like Leipold, who if he does have success at Kansas, will be a hot commodity around the country. Leipold’s buyout is $6 million if he leaves KU in 2021, $5 million in 2022, $4 million in 2023, $3 million in 2024, $2 million in 2025 and $1 million in 2026.
As for incentives, like every coach, Leipold has them. The most interesting one is that Leipold gets a $50,000 bonus if KU finishes in the top 25 in any poll, $50,000 if Leipold is named Big 12 coach of the year, $50,000 if KU wins seven games or more in a regular season, $100,000 if KU makes a bowl and $500,000 if KU plays in the national championship game.
At this point, Kansas would like be happy checking off a couple of those $50,000 bonus boxes.
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