For years, a hallmark of Arizona State’s contracts with its highest profile athletics coaches has been to provide basic annual pay that is healthy but not near the top of its conference’s market — and to offer incentive-bonus packages that are among the most lucrative in college sports.
No one has come close to taking advantage the way football coach Kenny Dillingham has this season. And on Saturday, he likely added just over $1.5 million to his total as the Sun Devils defeated Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 Conference championship game in Arlington, Texas.
Dillingham — who has multiple bonuses based on a percentage of his basic annual pay from the school for the given season — will get $395,000 (10% of his $3.95 million in basic pay) for winning the Big 12 championship. And because that all but assures Arizona State a place in the 12-team College Football Playoff, he’ll get another $1.135 million for that achievement. (That’s 30% of his basic pay, less the $50,000 he already had secured for the Sun Devils being assured of an appearance in a non-playoff bowl game.)
While it builds on a season’s work, the $1.53 million total is the largest same-season bonus payout for winning a game since USA TODAY Sports began tracking these amounts on a weekly basis in 2019, working from documents it obtains from schools through open-records requests. It surpasses the $1.5 million that Jim Harbaugh reached in 2021, 2022 and 2023 when he led Michigan to Big Ten championship game victories that led to appearances in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Altogether for this season, Dillingham now has accumulated $2.525 million in on-field bonuses, although he has chosen to divide $200,000 among 20 off-the-field staff members. There are at least 63 Bowl Subdivision head coaches who were set to make less than that amount this season in basic annual pay from their schools, according to USA TODAY Sports’ annual compensation survey.
Dillingham is assured of additional money for Arizona State’s final ranking, as he gets a payment if the team appears in the final top 25 of the CFP rankings, or of the US LBM Coaches Poll or AP media poll. The Sun Devils entered Saturday’s game at No. 15 in the CFP rankings, the final version of which will be announced Sunday. They also are in the poll rankings, but the final versions of those won’t be decided until postseason play is complete. The amount of the final-rankings bonus depends on whether the team is No. 25 through No. 11, No. 10 through No. 6 or among the top five.
Dillingham’s $3.95 million in basic annual pay from the school this season ranks 11th among the Big 12’s 13 public schools.
He began his current contract year with a possible bonus maximum of nearly $5.4 million, a figure that includes $945,000 based on team academics. That’s the largest possible maximum for a Bowl Subdivision coach at a public school by nearly $1.6 million. (Texas A&M’s Mike Elko could have totaled $3.8 million.)
Since 2013, not adjusting for inflation, Arizona State’s head football coach has never had single-year bonus maximum of less than $3.1 million. Herm Edwards began the 2022 season with a maximum of nearly $5.6 million. The most he ever actually received in a year was $662,500.
Arizona State men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley last season had a bonus maximum of $2.055 million, the third-highest among coaches at Power Five public schools. He has been eligible for at least $1.9 million in bonuses in each of the past seven seasons.
Dillingham’s total so far for this season also includes amounts for the team’s ninth regular season win ($200,000), 10th regular season win ($300,000), reaching the Big 12 title game ($395,000) and being voted Big 12 coach of the year ($50,000).
He would pick up an additional amount if the Sun Devils play in the playoff semifinals and other amounts if they kept winning.
In addition, he will be getting $100,000 based on the team’s recently published NCAA Graduation Success Rate, and his contract includes bonus provisions for other team academic achievements that could give him several hundred thousand dollars more.