I keep hearing we can’t afford to fire Cal but

[OBKYUK]

I really don’t think that’s true at all. Matt Jones keeps saying we would owe $55 million if we fired him right now which is false. I read through John Calipari‘s contract a couple of days ago and posted it on a different thread on this site. If we fired him without cause, we owe him 75% of the remaining money on his contract. That amount is $41,250,000 (75% of $55m) at the end of this season.

The money is paid out in monthly installments if we can him which is equal to $6,875,000/yr.

I think a lot of people assume we’d have to pay him in one lump sum which is not true at all.

In addition to that, if he takes any new job (coach or otherwise), whatever it is they pay him lowers the amount that we owe him. So if Texas hired him and paid him $5m a year, we’d owe him $1,875,000/yr.

The school wouldn’t have his 2 cars we give him to pay for, his country club dues, or his expense account anymore.

Let’s say he didn’t ever work again. Paying him $6,875,000 a year is better than $9m and all his extra perks. Counting what we would pay a new coach the total amount we would pay may not be much different than if we didn’t fire Cal..

 

[DraftCat]

Optimistic point of view but it isn't your money to light on fire...

Best case scenario is Texas hires Cal and agrees to pay 30-50% of his remaining contract.

 

[UKMKG]

The cost to keep him is far greater than the money it will cost to get rid of him.

 

[OBKYUK]

Optimistic point of view but it isn't your money to light on fire...

Best case scenario is Texas hires Cal and agrees to pay 30-50% of his remaining contract.

This is very true but the school who is on the hook for this money has to look at the big picture. Is paying him $9M a year worth what we have been getting from him or would letting him go now be better for us overall? I believe the choice is obvious.

 

[ConRay9]

I think some of these nuances of the contract are good to know, and kudos to you for digging for them, but there’s also the fact that we’d have to pay a new coach to coach the team. So it wouldn’t JUST be 7mil a year to fire cal now—you also have to pay the new coach which easily doubles that figure.

Upwards of $15,000,000 a year to take a chance on a new coach that is not guaranteed to work is a tall order. And at that point, we’d almost be locked in to that new coach even if he’s horrendously bad because it becomes extremely hard to justify paying TWO former coaches.

I also find it highly unlikely that Cal would take a new coaching job upon being fired. Any such job would likely be a pay decrease for him or a net neutral.

 

[cats2010]

This is very true but the school who is on the hook for this money has to look at the big picture. Is paying him $9M a year worth what we have been getting from him or would letting him go now be better for us overall? I believe the choice is obvious.

Honestly not sure cal would even want to go to Texas. He could just walk away after this year and then just blame the KY fanbase for unrealistic expectations and creating a toxic environment which led to the last few years of bad play. If he goes there and falls on his face (which he will) then it just further clarifies he’s a fraud.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

We can’t afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing since 2019. UK is going to lose more than 50 million over the next 5 years if something is changed

 

[Raducanu]

I really don’t think that’s true at all. Matt Jones keeps saying we would owe $55 million if we fired him right now which is false. I read through John Calipari‘s contract a couple of days ago and posted it on a different thread on this site. If we fired him without cause, we owe him 75% of the remaining money on his contract. That amount is $41,250,000 (75% of $55m) at the end of this season.

The money is paid out in monthly installments if we can him which is equal to $6,875,000/yr.

I think a lot of people assume we’d have to pay him in one lump sum which is not true at all.

In addition to that, if he takes any new job (coach or otherwise), whatever it is they pay him lowers the amount that we owe him. So if Texas hired him and paid him $5m a year, we’d owe him $1,875,000/yr.

The school wouldn’t have his 2 cars we give him to pay for, his country club dues, or his expense account anymore.

Let’s say he didn’t ever work again. Paying him $6,875,000 a year is better than $9m and all his extra perks. Counting what we would pay a new coach the total amount we would pay may not be much different than if we didn’t fire Cal..

We can't afford to pay Cal almost 7 million a year while also paying another coach 5+ million a year, which is about the minimum it would cost to get a good one. If we want someone proven it's going to be upward of 7 million for them as well. That puts us at 12 - 14 million annually. That's just in head coach salaries. You still have assistants, trainers and admin staff to pay as well.

Why would Cal, who is 63, take another gig and give himself a likely paycut?

 

[OBKYUK]

Im not sure where UKs financial outlook on things are and I certainly don’t have skin in the game on any such decision. I just want to get the true facts out on the actual cost so everyone is aware.

Hypothetically if we could get a coach for $6m a year, assuming Cal takes no other job between now and 2030, is it possible to pay the difference ($9m now for cal vs $12,875,000 for Cal and whoever or $3,875,000 more per year)?

I have no earthly idea but that’s how it would look.

 

[DraftCat]

Honestly UK fans need to keep the pressure on....

Things to Do:

1. Do not attend the games.
2. Stop buying merchandise
3. Keep blasting Cal on Social Media


Things Not To do:

1. Do not blast the players
2. Do not threaten Coach Cal


We need him to quit/retire... he needs to know with 100% certainty that his time is over at UK.

 

[Kybluedude]

I really don’t think that’s true at all. Matt Jones keeps saying we would owe $55 million if we fired him right now which is false. I read through John Calipari‘s contract a couple of days ago and posted it on a different thread on this site. If we fired him without cause, we owe him 75% of the remaining money on his contract. That amount is $41,250,000 (75% of $55m) at the end of this season.

The money is paid out in monthly installments if we can him which is equal to $6,875,000/yr.

I think a lot of people assume we’d have to pay him in one lump sum which is not true at all.

In addition to that, if he takes any new job (coach or otherwise), whatever it is they pay him lowers the amount that we owe him. So if Texas hired him and paid him $5m a year, we’d owe him $1,875,000/yr.

The school wouldn’t have his 2 cars we give him to pay for, his country club dues, or his expense account anymore.

Let’s say he didn’t ever work again. Paying him $6,875,000 a year is better than $9m and all his extra perks. Counting what we would pay a new coach the total amount we would pay may not be much different than if we didn’t fire Cal..

You’re kidding. If he takes another job that pays less UK is on the hook to make up the difference?

Who signed up for that garbage? Never ever heard of that occurring

 

[HagginHall1999]

I really don’t think that’s true at all. Matt Jones keeps saying we would owe $55 million if we fired him right now which is false. I read through John Calipari‘s contract a couple of days ago and posted it on a different thread on this site. If we fired him without cause, we owe him 75% of the remaining money on his contract. That amount is $41,250,000 (75% of $55m) at the end of this season.

The money is paid out in monthly installments if we can him which is equal to $6,875,000/yr.

I think a lot of people assume we’d have to pay him in one lump sum which is not true at all.

In addition to that, if he takes any new job (coach or otherwise), whatever it is they pay him lowers the amount that we owe him. So if Texas hired him and paid him $5m a year, we’d owe him $1,875,000/yr.

The school wouldn’t have his 2 cars we give him to pay for, his country club dues, or his expense account anymore.

Let’s say he didn’t ever work again. Paying him $6,875,000 a year is better than $9m and all his extra perks. Counting what we would pay a new coach the total amount we would pay may not be much different than if we didn’t fire Cal..

Details below. Highly doubt UK gives Cal a Bonilla contract.

John Calipari Contract & Buyout Breakdown at Kentucky

As rumors swirl about Coach Cal and Texas, Boardroom takes a look at what exactly is in the John Calipari contract at Kentucky.

boardroom.tv

John Calipari Contract and Salary Breakdown at Kentucky
Signed: June 13, 2019
Term: 10 years
Base Salary: $400,000

John Calipari supplemental pay by year:
2022-23: $8,100,000
2023-24: $8,100,000
2024-25: $8,100,000
2025-26: $8,600,000
2026-27: $8,600,000
2027-28: $8,600,000
2028-29: $8,600,000

Unlike many coaches — particularly ones who have been at their school for as long as Calipari, who took the Kentucky job in 2009 — Coach Cal doesn’t have a retention bonus or any real bonus structure whatsoever tacked onto his contract. The only additional compensation he is entitled to be a $50,000 bump if the Wildcats achieve a 975 APR score in an academic year.

In guaranteed money, this means Calipari will make $8,500,000 this year, as well as the next two years before that number jumps to $9,000,000 for the remainder of his contract. Overall, the total value remaining on Calipari’s contract, beginning with the 2022-23 season, is $61.5 million.

 

[AGEE11]

Blows my mind that worst season in program history, worst post season loss in program history, and missing the NCAA for the third time in 3 straight years is not just cause.

Mitch needs to go with him

 

[TFCats11]

I’d rather have Mitch’s salary docked until the buyout is paid off! That would be the fair approach.

 

[OBKYUK]

You’re kidding. If he takes another job that pays less UK is on the hook to make up the difference?

Who signed up for that garbage? Never ever heard of that occurring

No, if he takes another job (coach, work for a network, ANY job), whatever they pay him we owe him that much less each year.

Here's how it's stated in the contract.

"Upon Coach's acceptance of any new employment, the University's obligation to pay the full amount of liquidated damages provided herein shall be reduced by the amount of the minimum guaranteed annual salary of the Coach's new position or the reasonable market value of the position, whichever is greater. Coach agrees to notify the University within fourteen (14) days of the date Coach accepts new employment of the minimum annual salary of the new employment.

So if we owe him $6,875,000 each year for the next 6 years by firing him, if his new employment pays him $4,000,000 we'd owe him ($6,875,000 minus $4,000,000) $2,875,000 annually.

Of course he could be so angry about being fired he might simply refuse to accept a new job to ensure we are on the hook for the full amount.

Something else about the way that clause is worded that is interesting. The amount we pay him is reduced by the salary of his new position or the reasonable market value, whichever is greater. So it sounds like we may have the ability to look at the new job he takes (if he did so) and say the amount they are paying is not high enough (reasonable market value). We would then have the ability to reduce what we pay him more in that situation. That sounds like a legal battle on figuring "reasonable market value" out but that is still interesting.