Following yet another successful season for the Spartan football team, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio has agreed to a revised contract with the program. It’s a deal that also includes raises for the assistants on his staff.
Per the school’s press release from Friday:
“Under the amended terms, increases have been made to Dantonio’s base salary (from $2 million to $2,264,480) and his contingent annual bonus (from $286,000 to $700,000). The revised contract includes a one-time $4.3 million contingent annual bonus if he remains the school’s head coach through Jan. 15, 2020. The contract remains a six-year roll over deal.”
The annual base salary increase might not seem like a lot. But when you add in his potential at bonuses and the one-time $4.3 million annual bonus, it’s a nice little uptick in pay for a head coach that has led Michigan State to a 36-5 record over the past three seasons.
Equally as important, it seems that Dantonio was looking out for his assistants when negotiating this new deal — something that’s become more commonplace at major programs recently.
Offensive coordinator Dave Warner will remain the team’s highest-paid assistant at $447,000 with three other assistants also earning over $400,000, including co-defensive coordinator Mike Tressel.
“With a berth in the College Football Playoff this past season, Coach Dantonio has again shown his excellence in building a nationally prominent football program,” Michigan State President Lou Anna K. Simon said in a statement announcing the deal. “He is an outstanding leader committed to MSU’s values who empowers his players to become the best Spartans they can be, whether on the field, in the classroom or as part of the MSU community.”
Simon isn’t necessarily wrong here. In Dantonio’s nine seasons since taking over the program, he has led Michigan State to a bowl game each year, including top-six finishes in the Associated Press poll in each of the past three campaigns.
Overall, Dantonio has led the Spartans to double-digit wins in five of the past six years. Prior to him taking the job, Michigan State football had put up double-digit wins just one time since 1966.