University of Maryland athletic director Damon Evans has a six-year contract with a base salary of $600,000 and supplemental annual income of $120,000, in addition to as much as $45,000 in performance-related bonuses, according to a copy of the agreement released Friday.
Evans will be making significantly more than his predecessor, Kevin Anderson, whose base salary was under $500,000 and who never made more than $600,000 annually at Maryland, according to the Maryland state salary database.
Evans’ contract includes a one-time payment of $30,000 for moving his family from North Carolina, $1,000 monthly for leasing a car and $120 monthly for a cell phone.
[Read more: UMD’s new athletic director: “We are going to take over this conference”]
The performance goals tied to Evans’ bonuses include Directors’ Cup finishes, number of postseason appearances and increases in donations and booster club memberships.
The Directors’ Cup ranks the overall performance of a school’s varsity athletic programs. In a given year, Evans would make $25,000 for a top-five finish, $15,000 for finishing between No. 6 and No. 10, $10,000 for finishing between No. 11 and No. 20 and $5,000 for finishing between No. 21 and No. 30.
For the 2017-18 year, Maryland ranked No. 53 among Division I institutions in the Cup standings. In 2016-17, the Terps were 50th.
Each year that 10 or more Maryland teams play in an NCAA-sanctioned postseason event, Evans will make an additional $5,000.
[Read more: Maryland’s athletic department was second-to-last in the Big Ten in revenue last year]
Evans can also earn a $7,500 bonus each year Terrapin Club memberships rise by five percent from the prior year, as well as a $7,500 bonus for a five percent increase in overall monetary donations to the school’s athletic programs.
Contributions to Maryland’s athletic department decreased by more than $1 million in fiscal 2017, according to USA Today. This figure includes both cash and in-kind donations.
If the university fires Evans before July 2019, he’ll be paid $3 million. If he’s fired after that date, he’ll receive the remainder of his annual base salary.
Evans will owe Maryland money if he leaves the university for another job in college or professional sports. If he leaves before July 2021, Evans will owe Maryland $500,000. If he leaves between July 2021 and June 2023, the amount owed drops to $250,000.
During the 2017-18 academic year, Anderson’s base salary of $494,964 was the lowest among Big Ten athletic directors, according to an online database. Ten of the conference’s athletic directors had a base salary higher than $600,000 last year, led by Ohio State’s Gene Smith at $1,000,591.
Evans was named permanent athletic director last month following a six-month period in which he ran the department while Anderson was on a sabbatical. Former Tennessee athletic director John Currie, one of three finalists for the Maryland position, made $1,315,000 at Tennessee in 2016-17. Patrick Kraft, the other finalist, is the athletic director at Temple, a private school that does not have to release the salary of its employees.