Kenny Dillingham’s contract as ASU head coach starts at $3.9 million

The Arizona Board of Regents will vote Tuesday to approve the contract for new Arizona State Sun Devils head football coach Kenny Dillingham, as well as an extension for Arizona Wildcats football coach Jedd Fisch.

A board book of the executive session posted to the ABOR website details the specifics of each of those new contracts.

Dillingham, who went to Chaparral High School and graduated from Arizona State, replaces Herm Edwards as ASU head coach. He left his post as the Oregon Ducks’ offensive coordinator after one season on Dan Lanning’s staff.

Kenny Dillingham contract, salary details

Dillingham’s deal is for five years, ending Nov. 27, 2027, and starts at a base salary of $3.85 million with $100,000 annual increases.

An addendum in Dillingham’s contract says that either a scholarship reduction of four or more players or a bowl game ban on Arizona State stemming from the investigation into actions by Edwards’ staff will trigger ASU to request an extension for “each year such sanctions are in effect.”

Incentives include increases for winning nine or more games, appearing and then winning in the Pac-12 Championship game, appearing and then winning a major bowl game and a 50% salary increase for winning a College Football Playoff title.

There are GPA bonuses and APR performance bonuses, as well as others for ranking in the final polls and winning coach of the year honors.

Dillingham will owe buyouts if he accepts another job. That starts at $4 million before December 2023 and decreases each December.

Jedd Fisch contract extension, salary details

The Wildcats announced on Dec. 1 that Fisch’s contract will be extended through 2027, adding two years to his original deal.

Arizona went 1-11 in Fisch’s first season and 5-7 this past year. In the proposed extension, the university touted the win improvement but also the increased fan engagement and increased game attendance as reason to amend the head coach’s contract.

Season ticket sales increased from 14,539 to 16,467, while attendance jumped from 34,900 to 44,209 in the past two years, according to the university.

Fisch’s base salary begins at $2.85 million, which includes an annual $500,000 in additional duties such as regular TV, radio and advertising appearances.

The base salary tops out at $3.6 million in the fifth season.

Fisch will owe the university $6.5 million if he terminates his contract in the first year. The drops to $5.5 million in the second year, $3.5 million the next, $2 million the following year and $1.5 million during the fifth year of the deal.

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