Arizona will ask the stateβs board of regents Thursday for an extra $600,000 toward Brett Brennanβs new five-year contract to coach the Arizona football team.
UAβs proposal asks the regents to approve a five-year deal for Brennan that would pay him $2.7 million for 2024 in school-paid compensation, prorated to subtract the first 16 days of January, since Brennanβs contract years will run Jan. 1-Dec. 31.
While that is the same amount UA announced upon his hiring, UAβs proposal to the Regents added another $100,000 to his second and fifth-season salaries, plus an extra $200,000 for both his third and fourth seasons.
UA proposed Brennan would receive $3.0 million in 2025, $3.3 million in 2026, $3.5 million in 2027 and $3.6 million in 2027. The annual school-paid amounts include $500,000 for additional, mostly public-facing, duties but they do not include extra annual payments of $200,000 from both Nike and IMG, meaning Brennan would receive a total of $4.1 million in guaranteed pay for 2027.
Most of Brennanβs incentives remained the same as initially announced, though UA withdrew a clause that would pay Brennan $50,000 for guiding the Wildcats to a non-playoff bowl game. UA also added a clause saying Brennanβs assistant coach salary pool would be βno lessβ than $4.25 million for 10 on-field assistants.
The Arizona Board of Regents are scheduled to hold a βspecial board meetingβ Thursday in Tempe beginning at 9 a.m.
UA withdrew an agenda item for the same meeting seeking approval for UA basketball coach Tommy Lloyd to be formally extended an extra year through 2027-28 that was due as a result of Arizonaβs NCAA infractions case that was concluded in December 2022. Lloydβs contract, approved after the 2021-22 season, spelled out the possibility that it could be added if sanctions were handed down by the Independent Accountability Resolution Process.
The Regents, however, still have an item in its closed executive session scheduled for βlegal advice and discussionβ over Lloydβs contract.
Lloyd has been scheduled to receive an extra year on his contract, for 2027-28, with his standard $100,000 annual salary escalator for that season. Lloyd remains scheduled to receive $3.7 million this season, including $700,000 for extra duties, in total school-paid compensation. He will also receive $200,000 from both Nike and IMG.
Lloyd also remains scheduled to receive $100,000 annual salary escalators through the end of his contract.
Also on the agenda for Thursdayβs ABOR meeting: an update from ABOR executive director John Arnold, who is also currently serving as the UAβs interim chief financial officer, on the universityβs ongoing financial situation.
Wildcats move back to Top 10
The Arizona menβs basketball team jumped from No. 12 to No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Monday after beating USC and UCLA at home last weekend, while the Wildcats remain even more well-regarded by the computers.
Arizona is rated No. 3 by the NCAAβs NET and Kenpom, while ESPN and CBS bracket projections both have the Wildcats as a No. 2 seed in the West Region.
In the AP poll, Purdue remained at No. 2 behind top-rated UConn, while among other UA opponents this season, Duke dropped from No. 7 to No. 12, Wisconsin dropped from No. 11 to No. 13, and Florida Atlantic moved up from No. 23 to No. 22.
No other Pac-12 team was ranked, though Utah received the 33rd-most points in voting while Colorado picked up a lone vote.
Last Oregon trail trek
Lloydβs Wildcats will make its final Pac-12 trip to Oregon State and Oregon to face teams that are both presumably hungry for a big homecourt win.
The Beavers (9-9, 1-6) have lost five straight games, four of which were played on the road and the other being an overtime loss to Stanford at home on Jan. 11.
Oregon (13-5, 5-2) is tied for first place in the Pac-12 with UA and ASU after getting swept at Colorado and Utah last weekend.
