KNOXVILLE — As part of its new deal with Butch Jones, the University of Tennessee increased the buyout its second-year football coach would have to pay for leaving.
According to the contract addendum released by the university Wednesday afternoon, Jones would owe $4 million if he terminates his deal before Feb. 29, 2016.
Under his original deal, signed in December 2012, Jones's buyout through that date was $3 million.
Based on the terms of the new deal, Jones would owe Tennessee $3 million for leaving between March 1, 2016, and Feb. 28, 2017, and the buyout is $2 million in the final three years of the contract, which was extended two years through the 2020 season.
The contract addendum also includes a clarified set of incentives for Jones.
He would receive $500,000 for a national championship, $400,000 for appearing in the championship game, $350,000 for appearing in the College Football Playoff's semifinals, $300,000 for an appearance in the CFP selection committee's "New Year's Six" bowl games, $200,000 for a Citrus or Outback Bowl appearance and $100,000 for any bowl game.
Jones would receive a bonus of $150,000 for an SEC championship and $100,000 for reaching the SEC title game, as stipulated in his original contract.
The bonuses for top-10 ($100,000) and Top 25 ($50,000) finishes in any rankings, national ($100,000) or SEC ($50,000) coach of the year honors and Academic Progress Rate single-year scores of 945 or higher ($50,000) and 965 or higher ($100,000) also remain the same.
The buyout for Tennessee to terminate its contract with Jones is unchanged. If it fires Jones, the school would owe him $2 million for each remaining year on the contract.
The salary pool for Tennessee's coaching staff also will increase, but those financial details have yet to be released.
According to the USA Today's annual salary database released Wednesday, the Volunteers have the seventh-highest paid staff in the SEC at $3.265 million, but offensive and defensive coordinators Mike Bajakian and John Jancek, at $480,000 each, rank only 30th among SEC assistant coaches.
USA Today lists secondary coach Willie Martinez's salary at $355,000, but his original deal was worth $285,000 per year. Linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen was the only assistant to receive a raise last year. Each coach had his original two-year deal rolled over through 2016 after last season.
Athletic director Dave Hart announced Monday that Tennessee had agreed to a new deal with Jones, whose salary was bumped from $2.95 million to $3.6 million. That was after the Volunteers accepted a bid to play Iowa in the Taxslayer Bowl in Jacksonville on Jan. 2.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com