Kentucky vs. Louisville: Comparing contracts for UK and U of L men’s basketball assistants

John Calipari and Kenny Payne are two of the most famous men in Kentucky, each known (and sometimes loathed) for their positions of power in leading the Kentucky and Louisville men’s basketball programs.

But the assistant coaches surrounding both Calipari and Payne are also of brand-name nature, and they form an integral part of the brain trust designed to lead the Wildcats and Cardinals to on-court success.

But how much is each school investing in its men’s basketball assistant coaches? And are the results worth it?

The Herald-Leader obtained the coaching contracts for all five Kentucky men’s basketball assistant coaches (Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman, Bruiser Flint, Chuck Martin and John Welch) and all five Louisville men’s basketball assistant coaches (Danny Manning, Josh Jamieson, Nolan Smith, Gabe Snider and Milt Wagner) via the Kentucky Open Records Act.

(An NCAA rule change this year allows schools to now have up to five assistant coaches, but only three of these assistants can recruit away from campus.)

The findings?

UK significantly outspends U of L on assistant coaches for men’s basketball.

And in an admittedly small sample size, the Cats have also out-recruited the Cardinals.

Kentucky men’s basketball assistant coaches

All five Kentucky men’s basketball assistant coaches have a yearly salary of at least $250,000 for the 2023-24 season:

Orlando Antigua (associate coach): $900,000 for July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.

▪ Formerly the head coach at South Florida from 2014-17, Antigua is now in his second stint on the Kentucky coaching staff under Calipari. Antigua was also on the bench at UK from 2009-2014.

Chin Coleman (assistant coach): $600,000 for July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.

▪ Coleman has been an assistant coach at Colorado State, Bradley, Illinois-Chicago and Illinois, in addition to Kentucky. He also has a strong background in grassroots basketball, previously serving as the head coach of the Chicago-based Mac Irvin Fire AAU team.

Chuck Martin (assistant coach): $350,000 for July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.

▪ Martin joined the Kentucky coaching staff this summer as a replacement for K.T. Turner, who left to become the head coach at Texas-Arlington. Martin worked under John Calipari for two seasons at Memphis, including the 2007-08 season that saw the Tigers advance to the NCAA Tournament title game.

Bruiser Flint (off-court special assistant to the head coach): $325,000 for July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.

▪ Flint coached under John Calipari at UMass for seven seasons and has had head coaching stops at both UMass and Drexel.

John Welch (assistant coach): $250,000 for May 30, 2023, through June 30, 2024.

▪ A longtime assistant coach in the NBA, Welch also spent time coaching under college basketball legend Jerry Tarkanian. Welch was hired by Kentucky this spring.

Antigua, Coleman and Martin are the three UK assistant coaches who hold off-campus recruiting responsibilities.

All five UK assistant coaches have the same contract incentives for on-court success, although the goals are lofty to trigger these bonus payments.

If Kentucky reaches the Final Four, each assistant will receive $25,000. If Kentucky wins the national championship, that payout becomes $50,000.

A pair of Kentucky assistants — Antigua and Flint — have contracts that end next summer on June 30, 2024.

Antigua has a one-time retention bonus payment of $400,000 included in his contract. Antigua would be paid that sum if he’s still at UK on June 30, 2024, which is also the final day of his contract with the school.

Antigua is also by far the highest paid assistant men’s basketball coach in the commonwealth.

When compared with the USA Today salary database for college football coaches that was released in October 2023, Antigua is set to make more in school pay this season ($900,000) than 29 Division I FBS head football coaches around the country.

The other three UK assistants — Coleman, Martin and Welch — have contracts that don’t end until June 30, 2025, meaning they are under contract with UK for both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

For the 2024-25 season, Coleman would see his pay increase to $650,000, Martin would see his pay increase to $375,000 and Welch would see his pay increase to $275,000.

UK head coach John Calipari’s contract runs through the 2028-29 season, although an “ambassador” clause in the deal would allow him to step down as head coach following the 2023-24 season (or any season thereafter) while remaining an employee of the UK athletics department.

Louisville men’s basketball assistant coaches

Over at Louisville, Payne has filled the two newly available assistant coach positions with men who were already part of the Cardinals’ program: Gabe Snider and Milt Wagner.

Snider holds the title of director of analytics and video technology for Louisville, and Wagner is U of L’s director of player development and alumni relations.

Wagner is the grandfather of UK men’s basketball freshman D.J. Wagner and the father of Dajuan Wagner, who played for Calipari at Memphis.

The full list of salaries for Louisville assistant coaches for the 2023-24 season is as follows:

Danny Manning (associate coach): $600,000.

▪ Previously the head coach at Tulsa and Wake Forest, and an interim head coach at Maryland, Manning was a star college player at Kansas during the 1980s and was the No. 1 overall selection in the 1988 NBA draft.

Nolan Smith (assistant coach): $400,000.

▪ A four-year player at Duke, Smith won the 2010 NCAA Tournament with the Blue Devils. Smith was born in Louisville and his father, Derek, was a member of Louisville’s 1980 NCAA Tournament championship team.

Josh Jamieson (assistant coach): $350,000.

▪ Prior to joining the Louisville coaching staff, Jamieson spent 15 seasons as part of the men’s basketball program at Oregon.

All three of these assistant coaches have a contract that runs through April 2025, and each of their different annual base salaries remains the same throughout the contract period.

All three of these coaches also have the same incentive structures in their contracts.

If Louisville wins or ties for the regular-season ACC championship, each coach would receive $25,000. If the Cardinals win the ACC Tournament, each coach would receive $25,000.

Each of these three coaches would also be financially rewarded for performances in March Madness.

Those bonus amounts for each coach would be $10,000 for an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, or $35,000 for an appearance in the Sweet 16, or $50,000 for an appearance in the Final Four, or $75,000 for winning the national championship.

Gabe Snider (assistant coach and director of analytics and video technology): $100,000.

▪ Snider was a four-year college player at Illinois-Chicago and was previously a graduate assistant at Indiana. He worked on NBA video staffs for the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons.

Milt Wagner (assistant coach and director of player development and alumni relations): $85,000.

▪ The aforementioned Wagner is a legend at Louisville: He scored more than 1,800 points for the Cardinals and was a starter on Louisville’s 1986 NCAA championship team. Wagner played in three Final Fours while at U of L.

Both Snider and Wagner signed contracts for their respective roles at Louisville in summer 2022, and those deals ran through June 2023.

But both contracts automatically renew for successive one-year periods, which means both Snider and Wagner are currently on deals that would stretch through June 2024 before then renewing for another year.

Payne’s contract as Louisville’s head coach runs until March 31, 2028.

Kentucky outspends, outperforms Louisville with assistant coaches

For the 2023-24 season, Kentucky will spend a total of $2.425 million in salary expenses for its five assistant coaches, which is an average of $485,000 per assistant.

Compare that to Louisville: The Cardinals will spend a total of $1.535 million in salary expenses for its five assistant coaches, which is an average of $307,000 per assistant.

And while the sample size is small given the recent staff change at Louisville, it’s apparent that UK still holds a significant recruiting advantage over U of L.

Kentucky brought in the top-ranked men’s basketball recruiting class in 2023, per the 247Sports Composite. Louisville’s ranked sixth, but the Cardinals lost one of their top incoming players when Trentyn Flowers opted in August to leave school to play professionally in Australia.

Of course, in modern day college basketball, winning in the transfer portal is just as, if not more, important than winning on the traditional high school recruiting trail.

The Cards brought in three transfers this offseason: Tre White (Southern California), Danilo Jovanovich (Miami, Fla.) and former UK signee Skyy Clark (Illinois).

According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, White was ranked as the No. 65 overall player available in the transfer portal, while Clark checked in at No. 117 and Jovanovich was No. 585.

Kentucky’s lone transfer portal addition was former West Virginia (and Texas and UMass) player Tre Mitchell.

Miyakawa had Mitchell ranked as the No. 28 overall player available in the transfer portal.

There’s also the on-court element to analyze when it comes to a coaching staff.

Though Kentucky underperformed last season relative to preseason expectations, the Wildcats still made the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32 and secured their first win in March Madness since the 2019 tournament.

While underwhelming, that’s a far cry from the 4-28 disaster that was Louisville last season, which included a 23-point loss to UK at Rupp Arena.