UTSA’s Bowl Selection Hands Jeff Traylor a Major Pay Day

Author: Jared Kalmus – @JaredUTSA 

When UTSA Athletic Director Lisa Campos hired Jeff Traylor as the Roadrunners’ head coach she was able to sign Coach Traylor to a very university-friendly contract that is laden with incentive pay bonuses.

Traylor’s 2020 base salary of $600,000 is definitely on the low end for college football head coaches, however his total compensation will look quite a bit different now that the Roadrunners have been selected for a bowl game.

With UTSA already securing seven wins this season, Jeff Traylor was already up to $700,000 in total contractual pay for 2020. Once the Roadrunners complete their performance in the Frisco Bowl, whether win or lose, Traylor’s 2020 compensation will jump to $800,000. Without diving into other coaches’ incentive packages, $800,000 puts Traylor at 7th in C-USA coaches pay.

Coach Traylor still has other incentives in play. If the Roadrunners are able to beat SMU this week then Coach Traylor will collect an additional $75,000. Additionally, if Coach Traylor is named C-USA Coach of the Year then he will be granted another $25,000.

If the cards fall right then Traylor could pretty easily finish the season with $900,000 in base and incentive pay, a 50% increase from his base salary of $600,000.

Assuming Traylor is still UTSA’s coach on January 1st then he will also be issued a $200,000 “Product Endorsement/Supplemental Payment” from UTSA. I don’t have the exact details on that clause but it seems to be just a retainment bonus. Best case scenario for Coach Traylor at this point would be a total compensation of $1,100,000.

All that is great news for Coach Traylor as his base salary was docked by UTSA due to the revenue shortfall caused by Covid-19. Traylor’s base salary was reduced by 10% from May 18, 2020 through Aug. 31, 2020, then reduced by 20% from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31. This means that Traylor lost a total of $141,500 in pay due to Covid-19, by far the most among C-USA coaches.

As of today, Coach Traylor’s actual pay for the year is set to be $658,500 before any additional unearned incentives potentially cash in, as his base salary was reduced to just $458,500 in 2020 which is one of the lowest figures in college football.

While Traylor’s base pay was originally set to increase to $630,000 on January 1st, he’ll now receive $504,000 in base pay through the 2021 calendar year unless UTSA removes the Covid-19 pay reduction. With Butch Davis receiving over $1 million dollars to go winless in 2020 and Seth Littrell getting paid $1.85 million, Jeff Traylor’s contract is clearly a big win for UTSA.

Note: Salary decrease numbers reported by USA Today.