It pays to play in the post-season.
The Missouri State University Board of Governors awarded baseball coach Keith Guttin and women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper contract extensions on June 26 following post-season action for their teams in 2015.
After a 10-game winning streak that helped land the Lady Bears in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, Harper’s new five-year contract increases her base salary by $10,000 a year to $230,000 annually, plus performance bonuses.
Guttin, a 32-year coach with MSU, took the baseball Bears this year to an NCAA Super Regional – with just 15 other college teams. With his contract up this year, the coach’s four-year extension bumps his base salary by $25,000 annually to $113,419, before post-season pay incentives.
MSU Athletics Director Kyle Moats said the moves are designed to reward the coaches’ work and maintain a competitive position among Missouri Valley Conference peers.
Harper, who is in her third year and finished the 2014-15 season with an 18-15 record, wasn’t due for a contract extension. Guttin, whose contract was scheduled to expire June 30, signed on through 2019.
Moats said long-term deals are out of the ordinary at MSU.
“Traditionally, most of our coaches, other than football and basketball and women’s basketball, are on one-year renewals,” Moats said.
“But Keith has had (multiyear deals) for some time.”
For instance, men’s soccer coach Jonathan Leamy, signed a one-year renewal worth $58,989, according to minutes from the board of governor’s June 26 meeting.
Guttin finished the 2015 season with the Bears ranked No. 12 in the USA Today’s Coaches Poll, its highest spot in school history. The 49-12 club topped its 2003 ranking when the team finished No. 16 in the nationwide poll after its only College World Series appearance.
The post-season matters to the MSU athletics department. Guttin and Harper have post-season incentives packages that could grow their compensation by six figures.
The baseball coach can earn up to $99,900 for conference championship and post-season victories, plus revenue for his baseball camp minus school fees. For example, his contract offers a $2,500 bonus for either an MVC regular season or tournament championship, $5,000 for winning its regional in the NCAA tournament and $10,000 for winning a super regional. Punching a ticket to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., nets Guttin $25,000, and he doubles that if the team wins the national championship.
For Harper, the stakes are higher. Her incentives include $10,000 for an NCAA tournament appearance, $7,500 for each victory, plus $10,000 for playing in a Sweet 16 game, $17,500 for making it to the Elite Eight, $35,000 for a Final Four and $100,000 should she bring home the title.
“With Kellie, I feel confident she is no worse than third in the conference, and she’s probably second,” Moats said. “We feel like our program deserves to be at that level because of our history of success.”
MSU’s Lady Bears team has two NCAA Final Four banners hanging in the rafters at JQH Arena.
According to Springfield Business Journal research, Harper has a lower base salary than Wichita State University’s Jody Adams but greater than MVC peers at Southern Illinois and Indiana State universities.
Guttin is likely behind Wichita State’s Todd Butler and Dallas Baptist University coach Dan Heefner. Butler earns a $329,000 base salary, according to the WSU Athletics Department. The Dallas private school does not release coaches’ salaries.
Compared to MSU baseball’s super-regional foe University of Arkansas, Guttin’s base pay is less than half coach Dave Van Horn’s $246,535. When additional compensation from the Razorback’s foundation, TV and radio and an Easton-equipment contract are thrown in, Van Horn’s pay balloons to $715,035.
The Bears’ season ended with a one-run loss to Arkansas.
