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It will be awhile before any of UB's new coaches ink their contracts, and perhaps a short while after that until the University gets around to my FOIL request.
Until then we can only guess how much - or little - UB had to pony up to secure the services of the five-time Division III Coach of the Year, his staff, and hires from other areas of college football.
Of the ten available coaching spots at Buffalo nine have been filled, two by previous UB coaches. Four come from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, two from Buffalo, one from Eastern Michigan, and one from Missouri State of the Football Championship Subdivision.
Here are the salaries of the old UB staff and the old salaries of the incoming staff;
| Prev Coach | Pay | Bonus | New Coach | Cur Salary | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Quinn | $380,210 | $470,000 | Lance Leipold | 110,000 | UWW |
| Alex Wood | $135,660 | $58,720 | Andy Kotelnicki | 50,000 | UWW |
| Lou Tepper | $135,660 | $58,721 | Brian Borland | 58,000 | UWW |
| Matt Simon | $91,290 | $43,930 | Matt Simon | 91,290 | NYB |
| Mike Dietzel | $88,026 | $42,842 | D.J. Vokolek | 72,000 | MSU |
| Marty Spieler | $88,026 | $42,842 | Alan Hensell | 42,000* | UWW |
| Adam Shorter | $88,026 | $42,842 | Daryl Agpalsa | 42,000 | UWW |
| Chris Cosh | $81,804 | $40,768 | Chris Cosh | 81,804 | NYB |
| Eric Lewis | $76,704 | $39,068 | Chris Simpson | 75,000 | EMU |
| Keegan Jones | $56,100 | $32,200 | |||
| Total | 1,221,506 | $871,933 | 620,094 |
* Alan Hensell was not in the UW database, so I took the average UWW coaching rate.
Jeff Quinn's base pay was near the bottom of MAC head coaches but in reality he was only about 8% off of the middle of the pack. His performance incentive package was one of the better deals in the MAC and last season he took home quite a bit more money than his 380,000$ salary.
Lance Leipold draws three salaries from the Warhawks. He is a coach, has a role in facilities management, and like all of the Whitewater coaches he is also a lecturer at the University.
Coach Simpson of Eastern Michigan comes with an average MAC Salary, in the range of returning UB coaches Matt Simon and Chris Cosh. But Simpson had no potential bonus in Ypsi, where as the UB coaches seemed to have potential performance bonuses of between 30 and 60 thousand dollars.
A quick scan of the USA Today coaching salary data base only 27% of MAC coaches outside of Buffalo get any kind of performance bonus, at UB every coach had a structure in place to earn money beyond their base pay.
Performance bonuses is a very big part of Danny White's compensation plans. Bobby Hurley reportedly gets a piece of the action when UB exceeds their previous attendance and Jeff Quinn's salary was boosted by 7,500$ if the team's average attendance was north of 15,000 fans a game.
One thing to watch for is how did Jeff Quinn approach Lance Leipold?
A bigger base salary at UB is almost certain. The lowest salary in the MAC, and third lowest in the bowl subdivision, is Dan Enos. The Central Michigan coach makes a 360,000 base. The smallest combination of base and bonus is 700 thousand which can be earned by Paul Haynes.
The lowest overall salary in college football is Appalachian States' Scott Satterfield who makes 225,000 dollars with a possible 25K bonus.
I suspect that Leipold will come in around between 275 and 350 thousand dollars. In typical Danny White fashion Leipold and his staff are all going to have bonus clauses.