The Arizona Board of Regents began considering a proposed policy revision for contracts of major sports coaches at Arizona to be structured with a stronger and two-tiered academic component.
The proposal was heard Thursday as part of the Regents' consent agenda, in which there was no public discussion, but it is expected to be brought up for a vote to implement it at a later Regent meeting.
The proposal calls for coaches' contracts to have a higher share of their base salaries be paid only when their teams meet a baseline grade-point average and a bonus only for meeting a higher GPA than usual.
The proposal also calls for schools to be able to โclaw backโ credit or incentives for games that are vacated or diminished because of NCAA infractions, while requiring more transparency about outside compensation and benefits.
The academic bonus structure came into the Regents' spotlight last June, when they delayed approving a new contract for UA womenโs basketball coach Adia Barnes. Regent Lyndel Manson expressed concern at the time about the jump from Barnesโ previous salary of $235,000 to $400,000 and for an academic bonus that could reward Barnes for achieving a worse GPA than the teamโs 3.19 mark in 2017-18.
But then-Regent Jay Heiler also told the Board that in some cases the contracts need to be agreed upon quickly so that in-demand coaches such as Barnes aren't hired away elsewhere.
That led to Heiler and Manson formulating the proposed contract template, which will be voted on at the Regents' next meeting in June or at a later meeting.
Full details of the proposal are listed here.
