Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and his assistants will receive smaller bonuses than if the Vols had finished the season strong and received a bid to the Sugar Bowl.KNOXVILLE - Tennessee's loss at Vanderbilt in last weekend's football regular-season finale did more than knock the Volunteers out of a likely Sugar Bowl bid and a third game in as many seasons against Oklahoma.
It also caused the athletic department's coffers and the coaches' wallets to take a hit.
Instead of landing in a high-profile game with an $18 million payout, Tennessee (8-4) likely will end up in the Music City Bowl in Nashville against a Big Ten opponent when the Southeastern Conference announces its bowl pairings this evening.
The payout for the Music City Bowl, which is at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 and will air on ESPN, is $2.75 million.
All bowl revenue generated by SEC teams is pooled by the league and later distributed among its 14 schools, though each team receives a travel allowance to handle expenses associated with the game.
Last season Ole Miss received $1.475 million plus travel expenses for playing Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl, which is a "contract bowl" for the SEC and Big 12 when it doesn't host a semifinal game in the College Football Playoff.
Tennessee took home a bowl distribution share of $1.275 million plus travel allowances of $243,400 the past two seasons for playing in the Outback Bowl ($3.5 million payout) and TaxSlayer Bowl ($2.75 million payout).
This season's share would be the same if Tennessee lands in the Music City Bowl or the Belk Bowl (also Dec. 29 in Charlotte, N.C.), but the total would drop to just $1 million if the Vols fell to the Liberty Bowl (Dec. 30 in Memphis).
The past two years, the Vols were more appealing for bowls hoping to sell tickets and feature a program on the rise, but their disappointing 2016 season makes them a smart pick for the Music City because they still would draw well in their home state, particularly if the bowl can nab fellow traditional power Nebraska from the Big Ten.
"Our goals have remained steady over the 19 years of the bowl," Nashville Sports Council president and CEO Scott Ramsey said. "We want to obviously bring a lot of people to the city if we can. The tourism impact is a huge way we kind of measure success. Obviously you always want to fill the stadium and have a great exciting environment for the players to play in.
"You want to put a matchup out there that really can gain a lot of television ratings for your television partner, your title sponsor partner and your city. You try to achieve all three of those every year. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can't. But I think those goals and objectives are always the same."
Tennessee's late collapse also means less bonus money for coach Butch Jones and his staff.
As stipulated in his contract, Jones would have landed a $300,000 bonus had Tennessee played in a New Year's Six game and a $100,000 bonus for reaching the SEC championship game. Instead he will receive a $100,000 bonus for reaching a bowl game beyond the New Year's Six and the Citrus Bowl, which gets the first pick among SEC teams after the four-team playoff's slots are filled.
The nine assistant coaches also missed out on bigger bonuses for reaching the Sugar Bowl. Each would have received a bonus worth 12 percent of either his base salary or $500,000 for the coordinators making more than half a million dollars for playing in a New Year's Six game. For any other bowl, the bonus is 8.33 percent of the coach's salary or $500,000.
The total bowl bonus Tennessee will pay its assistant coaches is more than $318,000, but the staff left nearly $141,000 more in bonus money - nearly $16,000 per coach - on the table by failing to capitalize on the chance to play in the Sugar Bowl.
There's been plenty of speculation about the future of the assistants, but Tennessee may hold off on making any staff changes until after the bowl game.
The deals for offensive line coach Don Mahoney, defensive line coach Steve Stripling and secondary coach Willie Martinez currently are set to expire in February. Prior to this season, four coaches - Mike DeBord (offensive coordinator), Robert Gillespie (running backs), Zach Azzanni (wide receivers) and Tommy Thigpen (linebackers) - had their contracts extended through next season, while both first-year additions - Bob Shoop (defensive coordinator) and Larry Scott (tight ends/special teams) - signed multi-year deals.
Jones is expected to hire a new strength coach this offseason, and one name to monitor is Rock Gullickson, currently the strength coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Gullickson worked at Rutgers when Jones was a graduate assistant there from 1990 to 1992. He later worked at Texas and Louisville and has been in the NFL since 2000 with the Saints, Packers and Rams.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.