Breaking down Ryan Odom’s contract as next USU head coach
Utah State University has a new men’s head basketball coach.
After the University of Utah poached former Utah State men’s basketball coach Craig Smith, by agreeing to pay him a base salary of 1.85 million annually — a $1.075 million increase from his $775,000 annual salary at Utah State — USU president Noelle Cockett and athletic director John Hartwell have already forked out a new deal for a head coach.
Utah State’s new basketball coach, Ryan Odom — who made $425,000 from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County last season — will be taking a serious pay raise to come to Logan, earning an extra $366,796 in his first season as an Aggie.
Through a public records request to Utah State University, Statesman Sports has obtained Coach Odom’s new contact information. Withstanding incentives and any possible contract extensions, Odom will have a five-year contract worth a total of $3,991,796. Here is a look at his annual salary:
| Contract Year 1 (April 6, 2021, to March 31, 2023) | $791,796 |
| Contract Year 2 (April 1,
2022 to March 31, 2023) |
$800,000 |
| Contract Year 3 (April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023) | $800,000 |
| Contract Year 4 (April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025) | $800,000 |
| Contract Year 5 (April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026) | $800,000 |
Incentive bonuses for specific achievements are provided to Odom as well, although those details are unspecified in the initial contract release.
USU also agrees to pay upwards of $250,00 to UMBC for the buyout of Odom’s previous contract. Per the Baltimore Sun, his buyout is anywhere between $168,750 to $225,000.
If USU terminates Odom for convenience at any point of the five-year contract, the university owes him “75 percent of the prorated amount of total compensation for the then-current balance of the term of the contract.”
For example, if Odom is fired with two years remaining on his contract, the university will pay him $1.2 million of the remaining $1.6 million.
If Odom terminates the contract, the percentage he owes USU depends on the point of his departure. If he breaks the contract after year one or year two, he will owe USU 50 percent of the prorated amount of the remaining total compensation. If he terminates it after year three to year five, he will be responsible for 35 percent of the remaining contract.
For example, if Odom accepts a higher-paying job and terminates the contract after year two, he will owe the school $1.2 million. If he terminates it after year three, he owes USU $560,000.
$530,000 annually will be allocated annually from USU athletics to pay the salaries of three assistant men’s basketball coaches. $150,000 will also be allocated for men’s basketball operations and administrative positions, as well as one full-time graduate assistant position.
Other tidbits from the contract: Odom will receive a courtesy car, a membership at the Logan Country Club and medical and dental insurance. He will receive up to ten home men’s basketball season tickets and six season tickets for football games. His family is permitted to travel on team-chartered flights to away basketball games.
There will be a press conference tomorrow, Wednesday, April 6 at 11 a.m. Mountain Time in the Wayne Estes Center to introduce Odom as the new head coach. You can watch the press conference live here on the Utah State Athletics website.
@jacobnielson12
—sports@usustatesman.com