Charlie Weis made almost twice as much from Notre Dame in 2011 as current coach Brian Kelly
Last year Brian Kelly had a 12-0 regular season for Notre Dame. Charlie Weis, exiled from Notre Dame, went 1-11 with Kansas.
And in 2011 Weis made almost twice as much money as Kelly ... from Notre Dame.
This is why you shouldn't rush into silly contract extensions, kids.
According to the Chicago Tribune, which cited federal tax documents, Weis received another buyout payment of $2,054,744 from Notre Dame in 2011. During the same reporting period, Kelly got $1,088,179, although the Tribune points out that probably doesn't represent Kelly's total earnings that include external sources.
No matter, the story points out the absurdity of Weis' contract with Notre Dame. The Tribune reports that Weis is scheduled to keep getting buyout payments until Dec. of 2015, and that the total buyout should end up totaling $18,966,867 (and yes, Dr. Saturday is already preparing to copy and paste this post when we're writing about Iowa and Kirk Ferentz in a couple years).
Not sure about Weis, but his agent surely had a decided schematic advantage.
Weis, who received an initial payment of $6,638,403 after his firing according to the Tribune, serves as a cautionary tale.
Weis had five years remaining on his contract in 2005, when the school decided to renegotiate those five and add five more. That was during Weis' first season with the Irish. The 10-year extension turned out terribly for Notre Dame but pretty well for Weis, whose final three years with the Irish included a 3-9 season in 2007.
The next time a school thinks about renegotiating a coach's contract less than a full season into a six-year deal, it should think about Weis and just let it play out a little longer.
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