Penn State announced on Thursday that Bill O'Brien's contract had been amended. And while the school wasn't exactly clear on what those amendments were, it appears O'Brien is getting quite a raise for the 2013 season.
“In the face of great adversity, Bill did a tremendous job with all facets of the Penn State football program,” said athletic director Dave Joyner in the release. “This rightly recognizes Bill’s outstanding achievements in guiding our student-athletes on and off the field.”
O'Brien's original contract had a base salary of $950,000 for the 2012 season that was scheduled to increase five percent each season. Instead, O'Brien will see his salary increase to $1,932,779 in 2013, so he has essentially received a million-dollar raise.
However, O'Brien's base salary will decrease to $1,137,096 in 2014 before a bump up to $1,650,994 in 2015. That amount will then increase by five percent in the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
O'Brien will also receive an additional $1 million through 2017 for appearances on school-sponsored radio and television shows, along with speaking engagements.
His contract also has a new buyout should O'Brien decide to leave for the NFL. Essentially, if O'Brien leaves Penn State for an NFL job before his contract expires he'll have to pay the school his base salary for the current year multiplied by however many years remain on the contract. So if O'Brien leaves Penn State for the NFL in 2015 his buyout would be $3,301,988 ($1,650,994 base salary in 2015 multiplied by two for the remaining years on the deal).
