Choate Earns Catgriz Bonus

[kwcat]

http://billingsgazette.com/sports/colle ... 24758.html

Cat-Griz win nets Choate $10K in contract incentives
AJ MAZZOLINI For The Gazette 16 hrs ago
Jeff Choate
Associated Press
Bobcats coach Jeff Chaote received a $10,000 bonus for beating Montana.
MISSOULA — The outcome of the 116th Cat-Griz game produced a wave of favorable effects across Bozeman. The Bobcats helped salvage a lost season and in turn gave a lift to their tested fan base and first-year head coach — along with his wallet.

In the amount of 10 grand.

Among the financial performance incentives in the contract of head football coach Jeff Choate is a somewhat unique line item. Tucked between a $12,500 bonus for the Bobcats claiming the Big Sky Conference crown and a $7,500 lump paid for achieving eight Division I victories in a year is an incentive worth $10,000 for "Beating the University of Montana."

One that Choate made good on by humbling the Grizzlies, 24-17, late last month.

"I think it's a little bit unique, but it also goes to show what was important at that time to try and hire the coach that you want," said MSU athletic director Leon Costello, who could not speak to the specifics of the contract negotiations with Choate, who signed his deal in January four months before Costello's hire to replace former AD Peter Field.

"Just in my short time here and going through the rivalry game just one time, I can see the importance of it," Costello continued. "I know what it means to the state and our university."

Incentives are how college athletic departments sweeten the pot for their high-priced program heads without committing too much of the budget there in the first place, Montana athletic director Kent Haslam said.

"I don't know if the state of Montana has the stomach to pay a football coach more than, say, the president of a university," said Haslam, who gave head coach Bob Stitt a 3-year contract at a base salary of $175,000 in December 2014. "That base is so focused on, and we certainly want to keep that in a reasonable range and also be competitive."

Enter incentive compensation. Bonuses for everything from team GPAs to conference and national titles to attendance upticks are as common practice in FCS as at the highest levels of college sports.

Contracts vary from coach to coach and institution to institution. Where Choate gets a bump for beating the Griz, Stitt receives no such prize. He can collect $5,000 for each UM nonconference victory over recent FCS playoff qualifiers though.

"We're not the Power Five and we don't have the luxury of all the extra revenue they have associated with that," Costello said, referring to the high-money conferences of the FBS. "At this level, I think you've got to get creative to put together an attractive package and incentives is a great way to do that."

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Creative like Choate's annual country club membership that MSU pays, per his contract.

While Choate and Stitt's contracts stack up fairly evenly in terms of base pay — Choate's $180,000 annual salary for 2016 is a tad higher than Stitt's $179,900 (after an annual 2.8-percent increase consistent with the Montana University System's annual salary adjustments) — it's in the incentive package where the Cats coach can really rake it in.

From just on-field performances alone, Choate's contract offers another $190,000 in possible income. That doesn't even include potential earnings from summer youth camps or the $35,000 apiece written in for a weekly coach's radio show and television show arranged by the school.

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Stitt's contract is no slouch either. On top of the base comes $116,000 in academic and performance incentives, a monthly $500 vehicle stipend and unspecified camp and coach's show totals. Of that Stitt is due at least $25,000 with possibly more to come once fall GPAs are released. He earned $36,500 in such incentives last year.

Also in play annually is another possible $13,500 per assistant coach, the kind of payments Choate's contract does not specify.

The Griz football staff features 10 assistant coaches, or $135,000 in added potential expenses.

That all sounds like a ton of money, Haslam acknowledged, but meeting so many benchmarks would come with some significant income generation as well.

"If we're paying all of them, that means we just won a national championship. That's a first-class problem to have," Haslam added lightly. "There's extra revenue that would come in off of all those extra playoff games."

Incentive payouts are contingent on a coach keeping his position with the school. Base pay, however, is not.

For instance if Stitt is relieved of his duties as head coach before the end of next season, his third and final year of his initial contract, the agreement states that Montana is still on the hook for the remainder of his base salary at the time of termination. Similarly, if Stitt leaves for another job, the coach owes the university damages equal to his base salary multiplied by the years remaining on the contract.

Just some things to think about for the fringes of Griz Nation calling for the coach's head following Montana's disappointing 6-5 campaign.

[iaafan]

He deserves every penny. That game was a masterpiece for about 3 quarters. I think we set the all-time record for rushing yardage against UM in WGS. The defense held a team that was averaging 56 points and 560 yards per game at home to 17 points and 305 yards.

[The Butcher]

I saw people making a big deal about this on Facebook, but I honestly have no problem with this at all. For a pretty sad season, beating the griz made the taste not quite to bitter. I couldn't say that about beating any other single team.

[91catAlum]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

[utucats]

The time for anyone to get upset about this would have been when the contract was negotiated and signed. Having a Coach reach contractually incentivized goals is a good thing. Nice work Coach!

[Hawks86]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

[LTown Cat]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

Maybe that's why he seldom won!

It's a great thing and anyone who thinks it isn't standard across the nation to have bonuses like this is crazy.

[catsrback76]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

Maybe that's why he seldom won!

It's a great thing and anyone who thinks it isn't standard across the nation to have bonuses like this is crazy.

Ash didn't really want it, it was "just like any other game"!

[Buckaroo Bonzi]

Good deal for Coach Chote ~ I expect he and the other Coach's to earn many more Bonus's in the near future!
In the immortal word's of Ozzy Osborne what the heck is a mazzollini ?

[77matcat]

[emoji1303][emoji1303][emoji1303][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]


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[kwcat]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

I might be mistaken. I think I saw he had the same in his renewal. Maybe mentioned by Nuanez somewhere.

I hope he earns every bonus in the contract and earns the ballpark $400,000 possible.
Maybe someone on here has the link to how much he gave up at UW to come here in terms of expected base.

[luckyirishguy25]

The best part about this Bonus is the butt hurt on egriz about this bonus. That place has been priceless since Cat-griz.

[AFCAT]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

I might be mistaken. I think I saw he had the same in his renewal. Maybe mentioned by Nuanez somewhere.

I hope he earns every bonus in the contract and earns the ballpark $400,000 possible.
Maybe someone on here has the link to how much he gave up at UW to come here in terms of expected base.

It was around $360K. http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-h ... ana-state/

[MSU01]

Great idea for the contract. Let's double it to $20,000 then $40,000 then $80,000 and beyond if he can get a win streak going against them!

[catatac]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

I might be mistaken. I think I saw he had the same in his renewal. Maybe mentioned by Nuanez somewhere.

I hope he earns every bonus in the contract and earns the ballpark $400,000 possible.
Maybe someone on here has the link to how much he gave up at UW to come here in terms of expected base.

It was around $360K. http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-h ... ana-state/

Wow. That just seems crazy to me for a position coach. Do they also get bonus potential on top of that?

[AFCAT]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

I might be mistaken. I think I saw he had the same in his renewal. Maybe mentioned by Nuanez somewhere.

I hope he earns every bonus in the contract and earns the ballpark $400,000 possible.
Maybe someone on here has the link to how much he gave up at UW to come here in terms of expected base.

It was around $360K. http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-h ... ana-state/

Wow. That just seems crazy to me for a position coach. Do they also get bonus potential on top of that?

I'm sure they do. Makes me wish I had taken sports more seriously in High School.

[91catAlum]

Pretty sure Ash had the same bonus in his contract. I know I've heard of it long before Choate got here.

I don't see it in there. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews ... e1.pdf.pdf

I guess not, my mistake. I thought I read about it in Colter's August 2015 article on Ash's contract, but I just pulled it up and there's nothing in there either.

[GoCats18]

Reading this really pisses me off. Am I the only one that think beating UM should be worth $20,000, a new car, a book deal, a trip to Jamaica and free food to any and every restaurant in Bozeman for a year. We need to really make this game worth the win. HAHA!!!

[Cat_gld]

There are folks on egriz that think Choate's bonus should come out of Stitt's base salary. I'd 2nd that but would never want to reciprocate.

[wbtfg]

I'm sure choate's wife is really hoping for a contract extension for bobs titt


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