GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Florida gave raises and extensions to football coach Jim McElwain and men’s basketball coach Mike White, a reward for successful seasons that keeps them under contract into 2023.
The school announced the new deals Friday.
McElwain, who won the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division title in each of his first two years in Gainesville, will now make $4.486 million annually over the next six years. He also got a significant bump in potential bonuses, jumping from a maximum of $450,000 annually to $825,000.
Winning a national championship would now pay McElwain $400,000 instead of $250,000, and he can earn up to $100,000 annually (previous high was $4,000) for his team’s academic performance.
The school also increased McElwain’s buyout, raising the figure for “termination without cause” from $2.25 million to $2.5 million for each remaining on the deal.
It’s the second raise in as many years for McElwain, who got a $750,000-a-year boost in March 2016 after winning the East in his first season. That increased his annual salary from $3.5 million to $4.25 million.
White, who led the Gators to the Elite Eight in his second season at Florida, will make $2.525 million next season, up more than $600,000. He will earn $75,000 extra in base salary for the remainder of his deal, which now ends in April 2023, and his average compensation will be $2.712 million.
The financial commitment shows new Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin believes in the coaches he inherited when he replaced Jeremy Foley last November.
“Both Coach Mac and Coach White have done a phenomenal job of leading our programs and we are looking forward to having them lead the Gators for years to come,” Stricklin said in a statement. “As much as both have won games and provided a lot of great memories for our fans and stability for the programs they lead, they have both had a huge impact on the development and personal growth of the athletes they coach.”
Florida is 19-8 in two seasons under McElwain, with back-to-back trips to Atlanta for the league title games. But the offense has shown little, if any, improvement from the Will Muschamp era, ranking 112th in the nation in yards in 2015 and 116th in 2016. Plus, the Gators are 0-4 against Alabama and Florida State under McElwain. They were outscored 141-46 in those games, showing just how far Florida has to go to rejoin the nation’s elite.
The men’s basketball program has shown steady progress on both ends of the floor under White. The Gators are expected to have their best collection of talent next season following the signing of a top-15 recruiting class and the addition of former Virginia Tech guard Jalen Hudson and Rice graduate transfer Egor Koulechov.
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