State of CPJ's Contract for those Who Care

18in32 said:
(4) Graduation Success Rate – Any year the team has a graduation rate above 70% (as calculated by the NCAA), he gets $140,000.

(7) ACC – He gets $100k for winning the ACC.
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Is it typical for graduation rate bonuses to exceed winning your conference title?
 
covingtonjacket said:
Is it typical for graduation rate bonuses to exceed winning your conference title?
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I don't know. I actually think it's a fairly recent thing for coaches to get academic bonuses at all. They don't come here to play school, you know?

It is noteworthy that in CPJ's tenure the team as a whole has had excellent academic performance. I mean, for management majors.
 
18in32 said:
It is noteworthy that in CPJ's tenure the team as a whole has had excellent academic performance. I mean, for management majors.
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I suppose what gets rewarded gets repeated...
Also, it is strange to me how loose the contract reads. You were right to point that out.
 
Comedy in this thread—many fonts are dismissing the buyout as small change. Throw in GT still finishing the Hewitt debacle (any maybe CBG) and that’s a lot of wasted resources to pay guys not to coach. What does the board think a new staff is going to run? This adds up to CPJ isn’t going anywhere unless there is a complete meltdown and/or some donors step up (unlikely).

Clearly, the program is in a poor state and perhaps, a change at years end will be warranted, but I don’t see where the money is coming from to add another buyout and pony up for a new staff. New staff would be coming from the budget section of the store (lower division, young coordinator route).
 
18in32 said:
In any event... clearly our next HC needs to be someone who welcomes COFH. It's the kind of thing that makes coaching CFB special.
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I’m reminded of a Spurrier quote from a while back: “If you circle a game on the calendar and you lose it, then what?” He thought it silly to emphasize a single game over the others. While as fans beating Ugag feels like it is “worth” a few wins, I can see how a coach (or a perspective one) would see the situation of GT vs a team that has them checkmated athletically, financially and politically and think it isn’t the best idea.
 
GT98 said:
Comedy in this thread—many fonts are dismissing the buyout as small change. Throw in GT still finishing the Hewitt debacle (any maybe CBG) and that’s a lot of wasted resources to pay guys not to coach. What does the board think a new staff is going to run? This adds up to CPJ isn’t going anywhere unless there is a complete meltdown and/or some donors step up (unlikely).

Clearly, the program is in a poor state and perhaps, a change at years end will be warranted, but I don’t see where the money is coming from to add another buyout and pony up for a new staff. New staff would be coming from the budget section of the store (lower division, young coordinator route).
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Do not forget, T.S. could promote Woody to H.C. and negosiate a buyout with PJ. Woody would promote one of his assistants to HDC with the understanding that Woody would get a raise for 2019 season. Depending on how the 2019 season goes , all contracts would be reviewed. Just another angle to consider.
 
18in32 said:
Thanks for the link. For anybody still interested in the buyout issue, or interested in CPJ's contract generally...

Termination Provisions

(1) He gets paid $1,000,000 for each season left on the contract if fired without cause. The contract runs through 2022, so if we fire him after this season, he gets $4,000,000. In terms of the general context of CFB coaching contracts, I think that's a pretty favorable buyout relative to his salary. His total compensation for 2018 is a little over $3,000,000, and it rises to $3.4 million by 2022. So we can fire him at a third of the cost to pay him to coach. Usually you've got to pay 100% of unpaid salary.

Curiously, CPJ's attorney overlooked a drafting ambiguity (IMHO) in this separation clause provision. The provision specifically determines how much CPJ is paid if fired without cause "at the end of the 2018 season." But what if he's fired without cause *before* the end of the 2018 season? CPJ probably wins that ultimately at trial, but still it creates an issue to fight over and reduces the settlement value in the event there's anything else to also fight over.

FWIW, I think there are some ST posters who are bizarrely fixated on CPJ's buyout, and seem to think there's something meaningful about it. It's a very small buyout relative to his salary and other coaches' contracts. It is so small that there's no way it's a major consideration for TStan as he evaluates the situation. After all, Football is responsible for 90% of the GTAA budget. While the separation premium is a lot of money to you and me, it's just the cost of doing business (and preserving your business) if you're TStan.

I think it is highly likely that whatever happens this year, CPJ remains our coach next year, just because of how strongly TStan has supported him so far, and because of the 2009 & 2014 legacies. That said, if TStan thinks CPJ is not beneficial to GT football on balance, he's gone, regardless of the buyout. Think about it – there's no way in this era that any coach actually coaches out his contract – that just tells recruits that change is coming and hamstrings recruiting. So the question for the AD is always, "Do I give the HC *one* more year to right the ship, and what's the one year going to cost me either way?" In this case, the *one* year costs $1 mil. That's a tiny amount in CFB today, even for a modestly-resourced program like ours.

(2) Interestingly there's a separate "early retirement" provision. If CPJ tells the GTAA before the end of the season that he's going to retire at the end of the season, then the GTAA agrees to pay him $1 mil. Typically CPJ wouldn't get paid anything if he chooses to quit the job, but I guess we wanted to incentivize him to tell us in advance and allow GT the best possible chance to find a new coach. We don't want him to decide in the middle of May that he's not coming back... we want him to decide that in the middle of October, so we can be fully researched and loaded when the coaching search market is at its peak in Dec/Jan.

(3) In the event CPJ were to take a job with another FBS team before the end of the contract, he would have to pay the GTAA $750k. Interestingly, he pays no penalty if he takes a job coaching at a different level (NFL, FCS, Div. II, high school!) or if he takes any job other than head coach. So he can become a 'special consultant' at Ga So (or whatever) and pay no penalty. (Of course, he can collect the $1 mil described above just be characterizing it as an early retirement, anyhow.)

"Exemplary Performance"

Not that this is particularly relevant to our current situation, but here are the bonuses CPJ is eligible for, since I happen to have the contract open in front of me at the moment...

(4) Graduation Success Rate – Any year the team has a graduation rate above 70% (as calculated by the NCAA), he gets $140,000.

(5) APR – He gets bonuses of $65k, $90k, and $115k for APR rates of 930+, 940+ and 950+.

(6) Wins – He gets bonuses of $50k, $75k and $100k if the team finishes with 6, 7 or 8+ wins. [Aside, a bonus for 6 wins? That's "exemplary performance" nowadays? Bad look, IMHO.]

(7) ACC – He gets $100k for winning the ACC.

(8) Bowls – He gets... $250k for making the CFP, $250k for winning the CFP, $200k for making one of the other Big 6 bowls, $125 for making the Citrus or Russell Athletic bowls, $100k for making the Belk/Sun/Pinstripe/Music City or Taxslayer bowls, $75k for making the Military, Independence, Detroit, Bitcoin, or Birmingham bowls, and $75k for winning a bowl.

(9) ACC COTY – He gets $25k for being named the ACC COTY.

(10) COTY – He gets $50k for being named national COTY (Bobby Dodd or otherwise).

(11) Rankings – He gets $10k for finishing in the Top 25, and $50k for finishing in the Top 10.

There is no "beat UGA" bonus. So if CPJ were to maximize his bonuses in one magical season, he'd take home an extra $1,080,000. As I said, I realize this is irrelevant at the moment, but since I had the new contract in front of me, I thought I'd pass it along.

PS. This is one poorly written contract, from a technical drafting perspective. CPJ's lawyer needs a lesson in contract drafting. There are internal inconsistencies and ambiguities that could be a problem in the event of litigation.

PPS. Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of cool that Marvin Lewis signs CPJ's contract?
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Thank you for the info. This puts everything n perspective.
 
yellowbritchies said:
Do not forget, T.S. could promote Woody to H.C. and negosiate a buyout with PJ. Woody would promote one of his assistants to HDC with the understanding that Woody would get a raise for 2019 season. Depending on how the 2019 season goes , all contracts would be reviewed. Just another angle to consider.
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Sure, but why would Woody be the head guy for anything but an interim tag (if the season went that far south)? Woody isn’t really an improvement over read and react Roof at this point.
 
GT98 said:
Woody isn’t really an improvement over read and react Roof at this point.
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Then again, "at this point" = 3 games, one of which was our first shutout in years, the others of which featured good play and bad play. Does he get any credit for holding Pitt to 3 points in the second half? I have no investment in Woody but the jury's definitely out on him at this point. He hasn't been with us for 10 years.
 
GT98 said:
I’m reminded of a Spurrier quote from a while back: “If you circle a game on the calendar and you lose it, then what?” He thought it silly to emphasize a single game over the others. While as fans beating Ugag feels like it is “worth” a few wins, I can see how a coach (or a perspective one) would see the situation of GT vs a team that has them checkmated athletically, financially and politically and think it isn’t the best idea.
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Coaches don't like rivalry games if they frequently lose them. They love them if they frequently win them. No mystery there.

As for, "what happens if you circle the game and lose?" The answer is: you feel worse, you try harder, you f'ng *CARE*. And don't give me that nonsense about caring equally about every loss. If you care as much about the loss to USF as you do a loss to UGA, you don't understand what "caring" means. If you care about every human equally (love one another and all that), your wife is going to be really pissed.
 
I think the change in the blocking rules killed option teams this year. It's not only Tech that has to retool and probably get a coach that runs a different system, but it's Army, Navy and Air Force as well. The cut blocking is gone and with it smaller linemen who are quicker are losing their last niche. The rules favor the immovable objects and faster linebackers. So the Wishbone is finally broken. Maybe CPJ tells AD TStan that he is ready to retire ...Either way it is time start to rebuild...
 
GTFLETCH said:
I think the change in the blocking rules killed option teams this year. It's not only Tech that has to retool and probably get a coach that runs a different system, but it's Army, Navy and Air Force as well. The cut blocking is gone and with it smaller linemen who are quicker are losing their last niche. The rules favor the immovable objects and faster linebackers. So the Wishbone is finally broken. Maybe CPJ tells AD TStan that he is ready to retire ...Either way it is time start to rebuild...
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I think we need more data points to confirm the effect of the rule changes. I'm not adept at reading the field during plays to know just what the effect has been so far this year.
 
ScionOfSouthland said:
When do we stop paying into Hewitt’s 529 plans for his kids?
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In April 2016 (when CJP was hired), Ken reported that "The school also owes former coach Paul Hewitt $906,250 annually through 2018-19." I don't know exactly when that payment will be made, maybe at the start of the season, maybe at the end of it. But we'll be making the final payment in the next few months.

PS. @savbandjacket I just looked at Hewitt's contract. Much better drafted all the way around, technically speaking. It did include a mutual authorship clause.
 
18in32 said:
I think we need more data points to confirm the effect of the rule changes. I'm not adept at reading the field during plays to know just what the effect has been so far this year.
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OK.. Call me crazy... Here is how I see it...

The record problems go back to 2015. (18 Wins in four years) The "lose the fanbase" problems started with that TN game. The repose since then has been constant:

- No defense (the D is actually a lil better this year, but the result isn't different enough to translate onto the scoreboard)
- Atrocious special teams (special-teams coordinator Ray Rychleski left after 2016)
- An offense that can't deliver when it actually seriously matters and, worse than that, tends to turn it over when it really matters.

Self-destruction and being mentally unprepared is the fastest way to lose the GT fanbase. That's been the case for two years now. The USF & Pitt games were merely the catalyst that pushed things over the edge. Maybe I jumped the gun on the Cut blocking rule change... Maybe we just suck that bad and we are back to the Bill Lewis Era...
 
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