NC State’s Mark Gottfried Gets a $1.5 Million Bonus For NCAA Tournament Bid
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
There are some nice bonuses for coaches whose teams make the NCAA Tournament.
Many of them make a standard $25,000 to $30,000 for reaching the Big Dance.
But NC State’s Mark Gottfried has a bonus for making the tournament that rivals a championship bonus.
In his contract he signed in April 2011, the school agreed to give the coach an additional two years on his contract if he brought the Wolfpack back to the tournament. That’s a guaranteed $750,000 per year and if he actually finishes out the contract, it’s an additional $450,000 a year. The deal was negotiated by New York-based firm, The Agency.
It’s an extremely generous incentive, but NC State was in a tough position when it hired Gottfried. The team hadn’t been in the tournament in five seasons after having five consecutive appearances. Gottfried’s total annual compensation of $1.3 million is about average for basketball coaches in the ACC.
The bonus is an even a better story when you consider how close NC State was to not making it. In the CBS Selection Show on Sunday, the team got the last at-large spot as an 11-seed in the Midwest Region to play San Diego State, giving CBS one of the best reactions out of any school.
“It’s as gut-wrenching as anything I’ve ever been through,” Gottfried told the News & Observer.
The team was one of the last teams in after losing to all eight ranked teams it played during the regular season. But on Friday, NC State beat Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals by three points to improve its record to 21-11 before losing by two to rival North Carolina in the semis after a controversial no-call at the end of the game.
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