Standing near the court prior to the National Invitation Tournament championship game last month in Indianapolis, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletic director Mark Wharton said his expectation was to make Dan Earl one of the highest-paid men’s basketball coaches in the country among schools at UTC’s mid-major conference level.
There was already a verbal agreement in place for a new contract between UTC and Earl, who was hired by the Mocs in 2022, and that recently became official, with the school announcing Monday morning that Earl has received a six-year extension through the 2030-31 season.
The Mocs went 29-9 this past season while winning the Southern Conference regular-season championship and the program’s first NIT title — UTC beat UC Irvine in overtime in the tournament final — giving Earl a 68-38 record over his first three seasons in Chattanooga.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Times Free Press received a copy of the amended contract, which includes a raise of Earl’s base pay to $500,000 (effective June 1) with an additional supplemental pay of $100,000 for “various broadcast, endorsement and/or consultation contracts.” According to the contract, Earl will participate in radio, television and other media shows, programs and appearances relating to UTC multimedia rights contracts and “shall host and actively participate in at least three Mocs Club fundraisers between July 1 and June 30, 2026.”
It is believed the extension and raise rank Earl’s pay sixth among men’s basketball coaches in the state of Tennessee, behind Rick Barnes (Tennessee), Mark Byington (Vanderbilt), Penny Hardaway (Memphis), Casey Alexander (Belmont) and Nick McDevitt (Middle Tennessee), who most recently had a reported base salary of $575,000.