UW officials disclose Wilcox’s compensation

Madison — New Wisconsin defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox is set to be paid $1.45 million over the next two seasons.

UW officials provided Wilcox’s compensation package Thursday.

Wilcox’s base salary is $300,000 each year. He will receive $200,000 in additional compensation in 2016 and $650,000 in additional compensation in 2017.

Wilcox, 39, also can receive a retention payment of $100,000 if he is still on the UW staff on Jan. 1, 2018.

Former UW defensive coordinator Dave Aranda received $520,000 in total compensation in 2015, his final season at UW. Aranda left UW after the Holiday Bowl and signed a threeyear, $3.75 million deal with LSU.

Head coach Paul Chryst received an amended compensation package after leading UW to a 10-3 mark in his first season.

According to the contract, Chryst is to be paid $1.97 million for the 2016 season and ending on Jan. 31, 2017.

Chryst then will be paid $2.4 million for the 2017 season and will receive an additional $100,000 annually for the remainder of his five-year contract.

UW officials also provided the contract information for first-year secondary coach Jim Leonhard.

Leonhard is set to be paid $225,000 this season. He replaced Daronte’ Jones, who was paid $215,000 in his lone season at UW.

UW officials also released the contract of men’s basketball coach Greg Gard.

Gard recently agreed to a five-year deal and his total compensation package for the 2016-’17 season will be $1.75 million — $400,000 in base salary and $1.35 million from the University of Wisconsin Foundation. The total compensation from the UW Foundation is to increase by $50,000 during each year of the contract.

Also Thursday, the football team received two oral commitments for the 2017 class.

The first came from Jake Ferguson of Madison Memorial High School. Ferguson, 6 foot 5 and 210 pounds, plays tight end, wide receiver and linebacker. He is expected to be a tight end at UW. He had offers from Nebraska, Iowa and Northern Illinois.

Ferguson is the grandson of athletic director Barry Alvarez and the brother of current UW reserve safety Joe Ferguson.

The second commitment came from Cade Green, a 6-0, 188-pound wide receiver from Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas. Green had offers from Illinois and Bowling Green.

UW has seven known commitments for the ’17 class.