Blanchard's new deal worth $220K a year
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James Blanchard's new contract with Texas Tech will pay the Red Raiders' football director of player personnel $220,000 annually.
That's nearly a 19-percent raise from the $185,000 Blanchard was making in 2022, his first year at Tech.
Tech announced a two-year extension for Blanchard on Dec. 2 without releasing financial terms. Tech provided a copy of the contract to the Avalanche-Journal in response to an open-records request.
Under the new contract, Blanchard is scheduled to make $30,833 from Dec. 1 through Jan. 31, then $220,000 for each of the next two contract years that begin on Feb. 1 and run through Jan. 31.
When Tech hired Joey McGuire as head coach in November 2021, he brought Blanchard with him from the Baylor staff. Blanchard oversees Tech's recruiting operations, which have been well-regarded in his first year. The Rivals recruiting service ranks Tech's current class No. 17 in the nation, and 247Sports ranks it No. 22. The national signing periods for that class run from Dec. 21-23 and from Feb. 1 through April 1.
On Sunday, McGuire called Blanchard "the best evaluator in college football" and said he's "told a lot of people 'no' this year."
"The two things that stick out to me for James Blanchard," McGuire said. "One is eye for talent, how he evaluates, but the way he connects and builds relationships at the same time. He's got this special ... I've seen a lot of evaluators and they have personalities of cardboard. I've seen guys that are not great evaluators, but are phenomenal at creating relationships. That dude has it all."
A source last week told the Avalanche-Journal that Texas A&M and Nebraska had tried recently to coax Blanchard away from Tech. Nebraska on Nov. 26 hired Matt Rhule, who got McGuire into college coaching at Baylor and had Blanchard on his staffs with Baylor and the Carolina Panthers.
"He loves it here and he wanted to be here," McGuire said of Blanchard, "but I definitely wanted to make sure we had him locked in. It was a lot easier to say 'no' [to other schools]. Some of the texts that I read [from other programs to Blanchard], they were throwing all kinds of money at him left and right and, 'Hey, let's let you pick whatever your title is' and all that. His title is a Red Raider, and so he's fired up about being here."
Blanchard's new contract includes a clause, common among Tech coaches' deals, that neither Blanchard nor anyone on his behalf may engage in discussions or negotiations with another potential employer without first giving written notice to the Texas Tech athletics director. Failure to do so may be considered a breach of the contract.
Should Tech fire Blanchard without cause before the contract expires, he would be owed the remaining base salary paid in monthly installments within the term of the deal, reduced by whatever he might earn from another job within the term of the contract. Blanchard's buyout to leave of his own accord for another NCAA or pro-football team is $25,000 before Jan. 31, 2024 and $15,000 between Feb. 1, 2024 and Jan. 31, 2025.
When he signed the new contract, Blanchard dated it Nov. 26, which was the day of Tech's regular-season finale against Oklahoma.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Blanchard's new deal worth $220K a year
