Here’s how much money the new KU football assistant coaches are making with Jayhawks

Jesse Newell
·2 min read

Kansas football coach Lance Leipold’s newly hired coordinators will make less than their predecessors, according to their contracts obtained by The Star via an open records request.

New offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will make $500,000 annually, while defensive coordinator Brian Borland will make $450,000 per year. That’s less than KU’s previous staff members in those positions, as former OC Mike DeBord was at $600,000 and DC D.J. Eliot made $700,000.

Other yearly salaries for KU’s new assistant coaches hired from Buffalo:

• Linebackers coach Chris Simpson, $380,000;

• Offensive line coach Scott Fuchs, $300,000;

• Quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, $250,000

Each of the five assistants coming over from Buffalo had identical contract lengths with the exception of Kotelnicki; they all signed up for two-year deals with a school option for a third season. Kotelnicki, meanwhile, has a three-year contract.

The deals are all similar in this way: If fired without cause, the coaches will be owed 60% of their remaining contract by KU. If the coach leaves early for another position, though, he will pay KU half of what’s remaining on his contract.

The contracts all contained the same non-cumulative incentives as well. They included:

• 7.5% of salary for making a bowl game;

• 15% of salary for making a New Year’s bowl game;

• 20% of salary for making the College Football Playoff;

• 25% of salary for winning the national championship

Those coaches will also receive an added 5% bonus for an appearance in the Big 12 championship game.

The five former Buffalo assistants also received raises by coming to KU, according to documents obtained through an open-records request and reporting by The Buffalo News. Here are the previous salaries for each coach, according to The News: Kotelnicki, $140,269; Borland, $140,269; Zebrowski, $118,260; Simpson, $108,429; Fuchs, $103,001.

The Star’s request for the latest contract information with each coach revealed that receivers coach Emmett Jones’ and defensive line coach Kwahn Drake’s previous contracts have not been altered recently.

Jones, who was KU’s interim coach through spring practices, makes $300,000 annually from a contract signed by previous athletic director Jeff Long in 2019, with KU holding the option to extend Jones (or not) from now through 2026.

Drake, meanwhile, will make $340,000 this year and $400,000 next season, should KU pick up that one-year option. His deal was signed Dec. 14, 2020.

Both Jones and Drake also have non-cumulative incentives for accolades like bowl game appearances and qualification for the Big 12 championship game.