Fuente contract puts high price on success for football program

Former Memphis head coach Justin Fuente was formally announced as Virginia Techs head football coach in Blacksburg Va, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015. (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP) (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

BLACKSBURG (WSLS 10) - Virginia Tech released salary and contract information for it's new head football coach Monday and the price for his success is high, but inline with his peers with similar programs.

Hokies Head Coach Justin Fuente was signed on through the end of 2021 at a base salary of $500,000 per year. He will also receive between $2.7 and $3.15 million per year in supplemental compensation, for a grand total of $20,450,000 in the next six years, or around $3.4 million per year.

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According to the Virginian-Pilot, Frank Beamer signed an extension to his contract in 2014, giving him $2.5 million per year through 2019, had he not retired. The contract keeps Beamer on as a special adviser to the athletic director, with an annual salary of $250,000 per year.

Fuente's counterparts at ACC schools are in the same range of yearly pay, according to USA Today. It reports Dabo Swinney at Clemson makes around $3.3 million per year, David Cutcliffe at Duke makes around $2 million per year and Al Golden at Miami (Fla.) makes around $2.5 million per year. Florida State's

Jimbo Fisher is at the top of the ACC salary heap at around $5 million per year. And USA Today shows now former University of Virginia coach Mike London was making about $3.2 million a year before announcing his resignation at the end of the 2015 season.

In the contract, there are additional "athletic achievement incentive" bonuses for conference appearances and wins, bowl and national championship appearances/wins, and coach of the year awards, should he and the team reach such levels.

The contract also creates potential for awarding Fuente on the collective academic achievements of his team, year-to-year.

Fuente will also have access to two vehicles, a suite for home football games, tickets for basketball games, reimbursement for entertainment activities associated with the job, moving expenses and use of facilities for athletic camps.

There will also be a reimbursement of $500,000 to the University of Memphis, the school where Fuente was head coach, but left to head up the Hokies.

Fuente's staff budget was laid out in the contract and includes up to $3.4 million for compensation of nine full-time assistants, who would also receive bonuses based on certain post-season successes.

Should Fuente be let go before the end of his contract, he would be paid a buyout based on the timing of a termination. If Fuente were terminated without cause by the end of 2016, he would be paid $15,000,000. Each year's amount decreases, down to $500,000 should he be terminated in the last months of 2021.