The Ole Miss win over Texas A&M didn’t just vault the Rebels back into the top-10 nationally and put the Rebels (8-2, 4-2) in position to control their own destiny for a New Year’s Six Bowl.
It also activated a clause in Lane Kiffin’s contract that pays him $150,000 for beating Vanderbilt this weekend. As SEC escalators go, that’s a pretty good one.
Kiffin’s agreement pays him $150,000 for each conference win beyond four in a season, so Kiffin can make as much as $300,000 the next two weeks for beating the Commodores and then Mississippi State.
Ole Miss, since the conference expanded in 1992, has only posted five or more SEC wins five times (1992, 2003, 2008, 2014 and 2015), and should the Rebels win out, it would be the first 10-win regular season in program history. Worth noting: Ole Miss has only played 12 game regular seasons routinely since 2006.
Kiffin’s base compensation for 2021 is $4.5 million, though he gets a $500,000 retention bonus if he’s the Ole Miss coach on Dec. 31, 2021.
The next three seasons in his current deal are scheduled to pay him $5.25 million, $5.5 million and $5.75 million, respectively, though it’s doubtful Kiffin would stay at the same terms for that period of time.
Adding in the retention bonus, Kiffin’s $5 million salary would be tied for 19th nationally. Ten coaches nationally make at least $6.1 million and five of the top eight salaries nationally are in the SEC.
Kiffin would be the fifth highest paid coach in the Big Ten and second highest paid coach in the ACC. Two of the top-10 highest paid — Ed Orgeron and Gary Patterson — have been fired, and Dan Mullen is embattled in Gainesville.
Kiffin made $100,000 for beating Louisville in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff, as he gets that number for each regular season non-SEC Power Five win.
Worst case, Ole Miss is headed to a bowl game that adds $100,000 to Kiffin’s compensation because the Rebels are above the Birmingham or Independence slots. If Ole Miss makes the Citrus Bowl, that increases to $125,000, and a New Year’s Six Bowl that’s not a playoff game increases the bowl bonus to $250,000.
Kiffin adds $50,000 for an SEC Coach of the Year award and $100,000 for a national coach of the year award.
There are APR bonuses in Kiffin’s contract that can raise his pay by as much as $150,000, and he gets payments for annual season tickets sold. He can make a maximum of $200,000 if Ole Miss sells more than 40,000 season tickets, getting $50,000 at each increment above 30,000, 35,000, 37,500 and 40,000.
The Rebels sold 40,629 season tickets for 2021, including student sales.
Ole Miss and Vanderbilt meet at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Oxford. The Rebels are favored by 36 points.
