Mike Candrea turns 62 next week and retirement is not on his agenda.
When he agreed to a five-year extension last week, through 2022, he became what is believed to be the second-highest paid college softball coach. Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso is paid $482,000 at Oklahoma; Candrea’s new deal gives him a base salary of $345,000, with potential bonuses and a university-inspired investment partnership that could surpass Gasso’s numbers. Beyond that, Candrea is also one of the highest-paid softball coaches by equipment manufacturers.
Oregon recently raised the salary of coach Mike White to $237,000; White’s Ducks have dominated the league over the past five seasons.
UA AD Dave Heeke similarly secured baseball coach Jay Johnson through the 2022 season, at $500,000 per season. That’s a raise of about $150,000 per year, but it doesn’t put Johnson among the Pac-12’s highest-paid baseball coaches.
UCLA paid John Savage $1.125 million per season with a deal in 2014. Oregon State’s Pat Casey has a contract worth $850,000 now that escalates to $1.1 million if he stays through 2022. It does, however, put Johnson beyond ASU’s Tracy Smith, whose contract is for $375,000 through 2019.
Heeke has been on the job for about 130 days. What’s next? My guess is that he’ll announce the site and construction date of an indoor facility for, among other things, football workouts and fan entertainment, and perhaps approve and plan the construction of a statue/memorial to Lute Olson.
