UA, coach contract set
The original contract for first-year Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Chad Morris was completed this week, more than six months after Morris was hired Dec. 5.
Morris signed the contract last week, and it was completed with the signatures of other University of Arkansas, Fayetteville officials this week. Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek
said he signed the contract June 15.
The terms of Morris’ sixyear deal are unchanged from the offer letter he signed in December, and feature a $3.5 million salary, drawn from university and private funds.
Morris can earn up to $1 million per year in bonuses related to team achievements and up to $200,000 per year in academic achievements.
The contract states Morris is also eligible for three retention payments of $500,000 each, contingent on no “significant” NCAA violations under his watch and that the
program is not on NCAA probation at the time the payments are due in February of the years 2019, 2021 and 2023. The deal runs through Dec. 31, 2023.
The UA agreed to pay the $2 million buyout Morris had in place with SMU, his previous employer.
The buyout terms for Morris are more plainly stated than those in his predecessor Bret Bielema’s deal, and the page length of his contract is roughly half that of Bielema’s.
Morris would be eligible to receive 70 percent of his remaining salary if he is fired for convenience on or before Dec. 31, 2022. If he is fired on or after Jan. 1, 2023, he would receive 100 percent of his remaining
salary.
The contract states buyout payments would be made on a monthly basis through the term of the contract.
Morris, a graduate of Texas A&M, does not have a no-compete clause in his contract that would prevent him from taking another job within the SEC. His predecessors Bielema and Bobby Petrino both had no-compete language regarding SEC schools, which became a common practice for head coaches and football assistants under former athletic director Jeff Long, who was fired three weeks before Morris was hired.
Buyouts on Morris’ end are $3 million if he takes another job prior to Dec. 31, 2019, $2.5 million if he takes another job in 2020, $2 million in 2021 and $1.5 million in 2022. His buyout goes to zero on Jan. 1, 2023, the final year of his contract.