New IU football coaches' contracts show greater investment in offense

Perhaps because he'll be calling his own plays on the defensive side of the ball, Tom Allen is using a little bit less of his staff pool of money on a defensive coordinator than he was before. The money he's saved there is going to the offensive coordinator who will call the plays.

According to newly hired Indiana offensive coordinator Walt Bell's contract and new defensive coordinator Chad Wilt's signed memorandum of understanding, acquired by the Herald-Times from Indiana Athletics, Bell will receive $700,000 per year in guaranteed income while Wilt will receive $550,000. Both are being paid $450,000 per year in base salary, but Bell will be paid $250,000 for outside marketing and promotional income and Wilt will receive $100,000 for that purpose. Allen said Sunday when introducing Wilt that Allen will be calling the defensive plays during games while Wilt will be in charge of organizing the defense during the week and making adjustments during games.

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Also, according to his memorandum of understanding, newly hired defensive line coach Paul Randolph will be paid $375,000 per year with $300,000 coming in base salary and $75,000 in outside marketing and promotional income. All three contracts are two-year deals.

The salary dynamic between the coordinators is essentially flipped from the 2021 staff. Offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, who was fired after the Hoosiers went 2-10 in 2021 and finished 13th in the Big Ten in scoring offense and 14th in total offense, was making $500,000 per year. Defensive coordinator Charlton Warren, who left to be co-defensive coordinator at North Carolina after the Hoosiers finished 14th in the Big Ten in scoring defense, made $700,000 per year in his one year at Indiana.

The offensive coordinator position is obviously an important one on Allen's staff, because Allen's college coaching background has been purely on the defensive side of the ball. He was originally hired to the IU staff as Kevin Wilson's defensive coordinator in 2016, and was promoted to head coach at the end of the year when Wilson resigned. Allen has previously spent more on an offensive coordinator, paying Kalen DeBoer a base salary of $800,000 in 2019. DeBoer ended up making close to $1 million that year with bonuses before leaving to be the head coach at Fresno State. After two seasons there, DeBoer was hired as the head coach at Washington this offseason and hired Sheridan to his staff.

Bell was the head coach at UMass in 2021, but was fired after posting a 2-23 record in three seasons. He previously served as an offensive coordinator at Florida State, Maryland and Arkansas State. His bonus structure will be significantly different than that of the rest of the staff, and focus more on the specific performance of the offense, which is similar to DeBoer's. He will receive a $37,500 bonus if IU reaches a bowl game, a $25,000 bonus if Indiana scores at least 30 points in 60% of its games, and a $25,000 bonus if IU finishes in the top four of the Big Ten in points per game.

Wilt, who will be a defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the first time after spending the past 16 years coaching defensive line, has a more standard bonus structure. He will receive a $20,000 bonus if IU wins six games in a season, $2,500 each for wins No. 7 and No. 8 in a season. He will receive an additional $5,000 for each win No. 9 and above.

Wilt will receive $10,000 if IU wins the Big Ten East championship and $20,000 if it wins the Big Ten title, though those figures would not cumulate in the event of a championship. He would receive $20,000 if the Hoosiers reach the College Football Playoff semifinals, $25,000 if they reach the finals and $40,000 if they win the national championship.

Randolph's bonus structure is exactly the same as Wilt's. His salary is similar to what former defensive line coach Kevin Peoples was making before he left for Missouri.

All three men will receive $2,000 in Adidas gear annually, a courtesy car and $15,000 for moving expenses. If terminated without cause, they will be owed the remainder of their salary and outside marketing compensation. If Tom Allen is fired at the end of the 2022 season, they will be paid through June 30 of 2023.

If any of the three decides to take another assistant coaching job, they will owe a buyout of 20% of their remaining salary if they leave for an out-of-conference position, 30% for a job within the Big Ten. If they leave to be head coaches or to coach in the NFL, they will not owe a buyout.

Follow Herald-Times IU Insider Dustin Dopirak on Twitter at @DustinDopirak or email him at DDopirak@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: How much is IU football's offensive, defensive coordinators salary