Justin Wilcox Contract Documents

15,405 Views | 106 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by calumnus
BearGoggles
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I have "official" copies of WIlcox's contract. To its credit, Cal was very quick to respond to my public records request.

I'm happy to share but don't see a way to upload to this website. Any ideas for a free filesharing website I can upload them to?
DiabloWags
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Store, Share, Collaborate and More with Dropbox
"Cults don't end well. They really don't."
BearGoggles
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DiabloWags said:

Store, Share, Collaborate and More with Dropbox

Not interested in having my personal contact information tied to this. I should have said "anonymous" file sharing website.

ColoradoBear
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Wow, that was quick. Great initiative! Did Cal try to put any restrictions on use? If so, I'd wait to put it up on the Internet until they send you knowlton's contract so you don't piss anyone off.

And someone more in the know has to have a good rec on anonymous file sharing. Could just do a burner Google account and put it on drive.

oskidunker
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Who cares. They arent going to fire him even if they did the next coach wont be any better.
Bring back It’s It’s to Haas Pavillion!
DiabloWags
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BearGoggles said:

DiabloWags said:

Store, Share, Collaborate and More with Dropbox

Not interested in having my personal contact information tied to this. I should have said "anonymous" file sharing website.


11 Free Anonymous File Sharing Services With Temporary Online Storage (geckoandfly.com)
"Cults don't end well. They really don't."
Cal Strong!
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https://smallpdf.com/share-document
BearGoggles
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FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



Edit: For clarity sake, the years above are calendar years (not football seasons). Wilcox's contract ends on 12/31/2027
TandemBear
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Wow, Cal can't patent Crispr and make lots of money, but instead, agree to ABSURD contracts that further drain our coffers.

Who are these people???
MrGPAC
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BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.
calumnus
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MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


Right, his contract is for 5 more years, through 2027 at roughly $5 million per year or $25 million. His contractural buyout for those five years (if fired after this season) is $19.5 million.

Wilcox may have a contractural obligation to mitigate that by seeking other employment, but unlikely anyone is going to hire him at the same level. Most likely as a DC or HC at a lower level, but that would be only about $1 million a year. Plus we have Knowlton negotiating for us. Maybe he gives Wilcox extra money because he has had to deal with shrinking crowds and all the losing?
CalLifer
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calumnus said:

MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


Right, his contract is for 5 more years, through 2027 at roughly $5 million per year or $25 million. His contractural buyout for those five years (if fired after this season) is $19.5 million.

Wilcox may have a contractural obligation to mitigate that by seeking other employment, but unlikely anyone is going to hire him at the same level. Most likely as a DC or HC at a lower level, but that would be only about $1 million a year. Plus we have Knowlton negotiating for us. Maybe he gives Wilcox extra money because he has had to deal with shrinking crowds and all the losing?
calumnus, do you have a source for that 19.5M figure? According to the "Termination without cause" clause that was screenshot by @PiotrLe on twitter a few days ago (tweet linked below), Wilcox is owed 100% of the remaining base salary, talent fee, AND retention bonus remaining on his deal, which would be 24.3M if fired after this season.

KoreAmBear
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calumnus said:

MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


Right, his contract is for 5 more years, through 2027 at roughly $5 million per year or $25 million. His contractural buyout for those five years (if fired after this season) is $19.5 million.

Wilcox may have a contractural obligation to mitigate that by seeking other employment, but unlikely anyone is going to hire him at the same level. Most likely as a DC or HC at a lower level, but that would be only about $1 million a year. Plus we have Knowlton negotiating for us. Maybe he gives Wilcox extra money because he has had to deal with shrinking crowds and all the losing?
Duty to mitigate is always a tricky one since how hard is it to say "it's not a good fit for me" to pretty much anything? Courts are not going to force anyone to work anywhere. You just have to look like you are doing it in good faith.

That said, if we are willing to eliminate the duty to mitigate, we could probably obtain a discount for that and also for a payment of a lump sum up front. My understanding is that this is what happened with Tedford.
BearGoggles
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Here is the actual Section 12 from Wilcox's contract - it does have duty to mitigate provisions.

BearGoggles
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calumnus said:

MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


Right, his contract is for 5 more years, through 2027 at roughly $5 million per year or $25 million. His contractural buyout for those five years (if fired after this season) is $19.5 million.

Wilcox may have a contractural obligation to mitigate that by seeking other employment, but unlikely anyone is going to hire him at the same level. Most likely as a DC or HC at a lower level, but that would be only about $1 million a year. Plus we have Knowlton negotiating for us. Maybe he gives Wilcox extra money because he has had to deal with shrinking crowds and all the losing?
I edited my post for clarity. The contact is for 5 more CALENDAR years through 12/31/27. So the $24M number is the buyout if Cal terminates his contract on 12/31/22.
calumnus
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CalLifer said:

calumnus said:

MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


Right, his contract is for 5 more years, through 2027 at roughly $5 million per year or $25 million. His contractural buyout for those five years (if fired after this season) is $19.5 million.

Wilcox may have a contractural obligation to mitigate that by seeking other employment, but unlikely anyone is going to hire him at the same level. Most likely as a DC or HC at a lower level, but that would be only about $1 million a year. Plus we have Knowlton negotiating for us. Maybe he gives Wilcox extra money because he has had to deal with shrinking crowds and all the losing?
calumnus, do you have a source for that 19.5M figure? According to the "Termination without cause" clause that was screenshot by @PiotrLe on twitter a few days ago (tweet linked below), Wilcox is owed 100% of the remaining base salary, talent fee, AND retention bonus remaining on his deal, which would be 24.3M if fired after this season.



$19.5 million is the sum of the 5 buyout payments Faraudo listed (and misunderstood and misrepresented).
ColoradoBear
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MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


The contract in the attached pic specifically states 100% of base salary, talent fee, and retention bonuses remaining for the duration of the contract. It does seem quite sloppy in that the year 2-6 total values don't match the numbers for total salary. My guess is they could have been form a previous version, but can't tell without more docs. That could be the decrepnecy between the $19.5 and $25 million. It's clear that Farudo misread the contract by not summing up the remaining years.

As for mitigation, remember how DeRuyter was making 400k his first two years (while still getting paid by Fresno) and 850k the third year. That's pretty blatantly getting around mitigation in full, so would not expect mitigation to nessarily be 1 million for a DC job.

eastcoastcal
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Thanks for doing the grunt work and obtaining a copy and reporting to us. In other news, our AD is a confirmed idiot
bearsandgiants
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Major donors aren't that bright, it seems. Kind of embarrassing.
BearGoggles
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ColoradoBear said:

MrGPAC said:

BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



I would at the very least think that a "retention bonus" wouldn't have to be paid in the event of a buyout. Granted, that would only save 1.5 million off that amount.


The contract in the attached pic specifically states 100% of base salary, talent fee, and retention bonuses remaining for the duration of the contract. It does seem quite sloppy in that the year 2-6 total values don't match the numbers for total salary. My guess is they could have been form a previous version, but can't tell without more docs. That could be the decrepnecy between the $19.5 and $25 million. It's clear that Farudo misread the contract by not summing up the remaining years.

As for mitigation, remember how DeRuyter was making 400k his first two years (while still getting paid by Fresno) and 850k the third year. That's pretty blatantly getting around mitigation in full, so would not expect mitigation to nessarily be 1 million for a DC job.


The numbers in the Section 12 provision I posted were his original contract which has been amended three times to increase his salary. The numbers were most recently changed in the third amendment signed in December 2021.

With the help of a board member, I found a free hosting site. Here is a link to all of the contract documents:

https://file.io/UIOf9vmPkZD7

EDIT: See google drive link directly below. Thanks to from eastcoastcal!

eastcoastcal
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Google Drive link to the contract pdfs:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/180yVcXg1jUXtY12krBBz9SxiWiA9Hzrq?usp=sharing
Big C
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BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



Edit: For clarity sake, the years above are calendar years (not football seasons). Wilcox's contract ends on 12/31/2027

Two things I absolutely do not get:

1. This contract was given to him last December or January (I forget exactly when.). What possible reason would we have to extend him to SIX additional seasons? The standard contract for a brand new coach is five years, so he can have some time to get things established. Why extend Wilcox, with five seasons already under his belt (zero of them conference winning seasons, btw) to an additional SIX?!?

2. Okay, so let's say we do extend him to six (program stability, doing things the "right way", whatever), why would we possibly do that, if there were not at least a somewhat favorable buyout in there?

To extend him to SIX additional years, with all of the money 100% guaranteed -- this a coach who still hadn't proven he could win enough (a year away from being on the proverbial "hot seat") -- that is such a poor decision that I cannot even believe it is actually the case.

So, it can't be true. Um, right?
annarborbear
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Nothing tied to either performance or attendance. Kiss of death by an incompetent AD.
DiabloWags
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annarborbear said:

Nothing tied to either performance or attendance. Kiss of death by an incompetent AD.

We're so screwed.
"Cults don't end well. They really don't."
LunchTime
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BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



Edit: For clarity sake, the years above are calendar years (not football seasons). Wilcox's contract ends on 12/31/2027


You fired 'cause you suck. $0!
harebear
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bearsandgiants said:

Major donors aren't that bright, it seems. Kind of embarrassing.
I'm not so sure they consulted with major donors on this.
bearsandgiants
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harebear said:

bearsandgiants said:

Major donors aren't that bright, it seems. Kind of embarrassing.
I'm not so sure they consulted with major donors on this.


That's my point.
wifeisafurd
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BearGoggles said:

FWIW - I took a quick look at the contract and it appears that if Cal fires Wilcox without cause, it is obligated to pay Wilcox the full remaining amount of his contract, per Section 12 of his original 2020 contract. As of today, that is over $24M.

Here is the breakdown in salary:



Edit: For clarity sake, the years above are calendar years (not football seasons). Wilcox's contract ends on 12/31/2027
Thanks to GB and CB for their efforts to provide the source materials.

My read is that the buy-out amount today probably is higher than $24.3M. I think you have to look at the numbers listed in the Third Amendment dated 12/31/2021 from the "base salary, talent fee, and retention bonus as set forth in Section 2 (A), (B), & (F) in the Contract Addendum", assuming retention bonuses are paid after year end, etc. Depending on a proration of Wilcox's salary and fee income, the number probably around $27 to 28 million, not taking into account the value of any vested pension benefits, or offset by standard mitigation duties. The amounts would be payable over time from date of termination through 12/31/27. The course of conduct typically in these matters is to negotiate a lower one-time buy out, and to eliminate the duty to mitigate, and someone with a sports agent background (if he reads this) could speculate what the numbers might be.

Quibbling over the numbers is IMO a useless endeavor at this point. Like the alum who inquired of Knowlton was told, the pay-out is too large to fund, whatever it might be, and there really is no strong desire either from the administration or fan base to terminate Wilcox, presumably if he takes action to address the current problems with the program. The assumption was that both the administration and fan base at the time of third extension were willing to ride with Wilcox for some time, and the concern was that he would leave the program for another suitor like Oregon. In that regard, the consideration for the additional compensation and buy out in the Third Amendment appear to be the amendment to Section 13, where the amounts Wilcox would have to pay Cal if he left Cal were dramatically increased. Cal administrators wanted a "golden handcuff" on Wilcox, and paid for it. You may not like the outcome of that thinking presently, but what that Third Amendment effectively did was bond Wilcox and Cal together for some time. It was a calculated risk (at least I hope some calculation went into that strategy), and if Wilcox turns it around, all of a sudden, Cal looks a lot better. It is not unusual these days to see a contract like this with a big buy-out for both the program and the coach, when dealing with a coach who is in high demand. In any event, my two cents.

Nasal Mucus Goldenbear
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Realistically then, we would have to wait until the end of '25 season at the earliest to dismiss him for close to $12M. If so, his job is secure for THREE AND A HALF more seasons. Gird up thine loins. Bargaining for a lower one-time buyout amount to be paid sooner would then leave us with less immediate $ to obtain a proven HC & coordinators, thus repeating the cycle of unproven HCs who predictably prove to be losers.

It might get even worse than that b/c Knowlton has been AUTOMATICALLY providing him an extension & raise every 2 years. If that pattern continues, on late '23 or early '24 there could be an automatic extension through '28 & '29, each for over $5.5M for an additional burden of at least $11M (more probably ~$12M). In this classic knowltonian scenario (a mere 7-win '23 regular season plus a win in some cheesy bowl over a 7-6 juggernaut would warrant another extension+raise in Jimmy's "mind" to lock in our high demand 5 to 7 win big cheese), a late '25 dismissal would then still cost ~12M + ~12M = ~$24M.
okaydo
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I say we stick with Wilton. The next coach is likely going to sick, too.

Most of the new hires this season have been disappointing. We're never going to get a once in a lifetime great coach like TCU got.
annarborbear
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There may be only one potential fix. Wilcox will need to shift half of his own salary to the hiring of more upscale assistants on offense. I hope that he is not the type of guy who would prefer to be a richer failure.
calumnus
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annarborbear said:

There may be only one potential fix. Wilcox will need to shift half of his own salary to the hiring of more upscale assistants on offense. I hope that he is not the type of guy who would prefer to be a richer failure.



Or he can just be fabulously wealthy with guaranteed employment, hire fellow Oregon guys and other friends, and sit back while his defenders blame the losses on the refs, the City of Berkeley and especially the players.
PtownBear1
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Between this and the Covid extensions to all coaches, the squandering of university resources is sickening. Crazy that tens of millions can just be given out with no oversight or risk of repercussions.
Big C
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Do we all understand that the huge salaries for the revenue sport coaches do not come out of "university money" and also that the AD does not unilaterally decide on the contract length or contract amount for the football coach? (basketball coach decision was only due to apathy from other stakeholders)

Okay, now we can continue this discussion...
Big Dog
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eastcoastcal said:

Thanks for doing the grunt work and obtaining a copy and reporting to us. In other news, our AD is a confirmed idiot
What does that make the Chancellor, since she hired him.

And here I thought the worst Cal contract ever was the 5-year guaranteed deal that Wyking got from Mike Williams (another AD fail).
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