While he’s yet to coach a game in the Big Ten, Bo Pelini is already one of the highest-paid coaches in the conference thanks in part to an agreement on an amended contract reached last month, the Lincoln Journal Star is reporting.
According to the paper, Pelini signed a new five-year contract that became effective March 1 and will keep him at Nebraska through 2015, one year further out than his previous deal.
Additionally, Pelini received a $425,000 raise over his 2010 salary, putting him at $2.775 million for the upcoming season. The new deal calls for annual raises of $100,000, culminating with a salary of $3.175 million in the final year of the deal.
“He’s done a very good job over a short period of time, and we want to make sure he understands that,” athletic director Tom Osborne told the Journal Star Friday.
The new deal also calls for a significant bump in bonuses Pelini could earn as compared to his old deal.-- $100,000 for tying for the Legends Division title, without an appearance in the conference championship game (up $50,000).
-- $200,000 for reaching the Big Ten championship game (up $50,000)
-- $350,000 for winning the league championship game (up $100,000).
-- $150,000 if Nebraska reaches any bowl game (up $50,000) or $250,000 if it’s a BCS bowl, which is a bonus not part of his previous deal.
-- $350,000 if NU reaches the BCS championship game (up $200,000) or $650,000 if the Huskers win the BCS crown (up $400,000).
The new salary makes Pelini the third highest-paid coach of the 12 in the Big Ten, behind only Ohio State’s Jim Tressel ($4.1 million) and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz ($3.8 million). Before he reached an agreement on the amended contract, Pelini had been just behind Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema ($2.5 million) and just ahead of first-year Michigan head coach Brady Hoke ($2 million).
In his three years as the Cornhuskers’ head coach, he’s compiled a 30-12 record and finished first in the Big 12 North all three seasons. He has a 2-1 mark in bowl games, or 3-1 if you want to include his stint as interim head coach in 2003.