UTSA Extends Employment Contract with Jeff Traylor

Per UT System Board of Regents meeting minutes from the regents’ February 2021 meeting, UTSA has quietly extended football Head Coach Jeff Traylor’s contract by an additional year.

Traylor originally signed a five year contract with UTSA in 2020, while this contract amendment adds a sixth year to run from 2025 to 2026. This sixth season will provide Traylor with the same base salary as outlined in the fifth year of his original contract – $729,304.

While the contract extension was not publicly reported at the time of agreement, UTSA has confirmed that the contract amendment was approved to add the additional year onto the contract.

I’m unsure of how this extension would affect a buyout of the contract should Traylor leave UTSA for employment elsewhere. Traylor’s original contract states that Traylor would owe 75% of the contract value if the termination were to occur within the first three years of the contract, 50% if it occurs in year four, and 25% should it occur in year five. While it’s highly unlikely that Traylor would coach into year six of his contract without further renegotiation, it seems as though if the contract were to play out as-is then Traylor may be able to leave UTSA in year six without owing UTSA the remaining $729,304 in salary.

While the contract amendment does not provide complete clarity on this issue, it does seem as though a contract termination from Traylor before year five would increase the buyout amount. As an example, if Traylor were to leave UTSA at the end of this year then he would owe the university approximately $2.1 million. That figure would have been $1.5 million before the single year extension was approved in February.

Since all six years of Traylor’s contract are guaranteed, UTSA would owe Traylor $2.8 million should they choose to terminate his contract without cause at the end of this year.

Traylor’s base pay is still about middle of the pack in Conference USA, but his incentive-laden contract continues to be a great deal for both the coach and the university. As an example, should UTSA win the C-USA Championship Game, participate in a bowl game, and win eight regular season games then Traylor would take home an additional $275,000. Add an additional $25k for beating a Power 5 team this year, and Traylor is looking at a $300k bonus on top of his $630,000 salary for a highly-competitive total compensation of $930,000. Incentives for C-USA Coach of the Year, ticket sales benchmarks, additional wins, and other incentive targets could also lift that total compensation number even higher.

The contract amendment is shown in full in the following image:

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