Long Beach State men’s basketball head coach Dan Monson will earn a $281,004 base salary this season — approximately an 89 percent pay raise from last season — according to the contract obtained Monday.
Monson, who inked a three-year contract extension that was finalized Sept. 14, is signed through the 2015-16 season with a 5 percent salary increase every season.
The 49ers finished 17-16 and lost to UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Conference championship game last season.
“When you have good coaches, you have to maintain that continuity,” athletic director Vic Cegles said Monday. “I thought we had a good season and wanted to make sure the future was solidified.
“When you have good people, you have to recruit them and pay them.”
Contract bonuses include, but are not limited to: $5,000 for a Big West regular-season title or co-championship; $5,000 for a Big West Coach of the Year award; $5,000 for an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament; and $15,000 for a Big West Tournament championship resulting in an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The contract also includes a clause that will require Monson to pay the university a buyout if he voluntarily leaves before the completion of the third year:
• Before completion of Year 1: $150,000
• Before completion of Year 2: $100,000
• Before completion of Year 3: $50,000
After the third year, there will be no buyout obligation.
“I think for players to make a four-year commitment to a university they want to know what the commitment is in return for their side,” Monson told the Daily 49er last month. “Players are very skeptical these days about signing and not knowing the coach’s future.
“It doesn’t matter that [my family] loved it here and wanted to stay here if the administration doesn’t feel the same way. To see that they feel the same way back and give you a [three-year] extension — meaning they want you to stay here and keep doing what you’re doing — is a very gratifying feeling.”
Last year, Monson earned $148,464. In comparison, UC Santa Barbara head coach Bob Williams, who was named Big West Coach of the Year last season, earned $229,978 in 2009. For the same period, UCLA head coach Ben Howland, whose Bruins lost to LBSU in last November’s 76 Classic, made $2.1 million.
Kentucky head coach John Calipari is the highest-paid in college basketball and will earn $3.8 million in 2010.
Monson’s track record includes an Elite Eight appearance with a Gonzaga program that he spent 11 years with, including the final two as its head coach.
He then coached at the University of Minnesota for seven-plus years before becoming the 16th head coach in LBSU men’s basketball history in April 2007.
The 49ers will be able to officially practice beginning Friday, but first Monson and LBSU women’s head coach Jody Wynn will head to ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney on Wednesday for Big West Media Day.
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