Art Briles’ D-II Deal a World Away From FBS Payday Express

With each passing day, it seems, another FBS head football coach signs an eye-popping contract that all but guarantees him tens of millions of dollars if he is fired, regardless of the reason.

But that gravy train is not the one former Baylor coach Art Briles is riding as he attempts to resuscitate his scandal-marred career at Division II Eastern New Mexico University.

Indeed, if you’ve tired of watching public universities get steamrolled at the negotiating table by their latest football coaching hires, Briles’ ENMU deal might serve as a breath of fresh financial stewardship.

According to a copy of his employment agreement, obtained by Sportico, Briles’ new two-year deal with the D-II Greyhounds will pay him $140,000 annually, plus incentives, as an at-will employee of the school. That means the university can fire him without cause and owe him nothing. Conversely, Briles would owe the school $2 million if he leaves before the end of the contract.

His incentive structure tops out at a $100,000 bonus for winning the D-II national championship. Briles also receives a $10,000 relocation payment, which he would owe back in full if he terminates his agreement within six months of the start date.

Eastern New Mexico reported an athletics budget of about $8.6 million for fiscal year 2024, according to numbers submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. That included $598,000 total for the head coaching salaries for all six of its men’s sports teams. The football team’s operating budget was $1.4 million.

Briles was fired from Baylor in 2015 following a campus-wide sex assault scandal that rocked the private Baptist university and its athletic department, prompting the departures of school president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw. McCaw later became the AD at Liberty, where he currently serves. Briles, who still had eight years left on his coaching contract, sued Baylor, alleging libel and slander, and eventually settled the case in 2018 for $15.1 million. 

After departing Waco, the 70-year-old Texas native was briefly hired as an assistant coach by the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, before the job offer was rescinded following public outcry. In 2018, he coached professionally in Italy then returned to Texas as head coach at Mount Vernon High School. There, controversy surfaced again when it was discovered that he was using ineligible players. Despite on-field success, he resigned in December 2020 and returned to coaching in Italy.

Before his ouster, Briles took the Bears to five consecutive bowl seasons while compiling a 65-37 record from 2008 to 2015. Sure enough, Baylor’s athletic department turmoil did not end with his departure. The program was recently thrust back into the spotlight with the resignation of athletic director Mack Rhoades last month, who was placed on leave following a sideline spat with Bears tight end Michael Trigg earlier this year.