Why Clif Smart said it was necessary to give Missouri State AD Kyle Moats a multi-year contract

Kyle Moats recently received a four-year contract that will keep him as Missouri State's athletics director through the 2025-26 academic year. Moats hasn't had a multi-year contract in recent years.

Missouri State President Clif Smart, in a recent interview with the News-Leader, explained why it was necessary to lock Moats into a multi-year deal instead of the typical year-to-year deal he had been under.

Smart spoke to the athletic department's momentum under Moats and the coaching hires he's made in recent years. The university president said he and the university's board of governors wanted to make sure Moats felt appreciated with the hope that he ends his career at Missouri State.

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Why Moats wasn't on a multi-year contract before

Before Moats received his four-year deal, he was working more day-to-day instead of having a multi-year contract. That's the standard among Smart's administration, but it's not the standard in athletics.

Smart recognized that Moats was the only athletics director in the Missouri Valley Conference who wasn't on a multi-year deal when he's the most experienced in the league. Smart decided to make an exception.

"He's a guy that our commissioner and our athletic directors look to for leadership," Smart said. "He's been the chair of the selection committee, he's well-connected and our athletic programs, particularly in the last five, six years we've been tremendously successful.

"Men's basketball is not quite where we want it to be but we had a solid year. Women's basketball is extraordinarily good, we had an incredible turnaround in football, we've been Top 16 in soccer in the last two, if not three, years and he's made good coaching hires. He operates a clean program, the coaches want to work for him and we want to retain him."

Smart said, to his knowledge, that no other school was in pursuit of his athletics director.

Missouri State renewed its contract with Moats in 2014. It defined the length of the deal as "an indefinite term" and his salary was $160,302.

Smart said he also wanted to find a way to get it set up so that Moats would be in a comfortable position at the university for whenever the president decides to retire. After the first three years of the contract, it states the two will meet to discuss potentially extending the deal.

"I'd love for Kyle to end his career here," Smart said. "The board and I got together and we just wanted to communicate to Kyle that we want him here for possibly the remainder of his career. The goal is for Kyle to finish his career at Missouri State University. So we wanted to lock him up but really, more importantly, to convey to him that we really appreciate the work he's doing and we want him to continue to keep doing it."

Moats is capable of leading Missouri State into an uncertain future

Smart is well-aware of the ever-changing college athletics landscape and he's not one who will want to see Missouri State's athletics program get left behind. He thinks Moats is well-connected and capable of leading the university's athletics department into the future wherever that may be.

Conference realignment has been a major point of conversation, and Missouri State's name has been rumored over the last year as a potential school from the FCS level that could make the jump to the FBS. University officials have denied conversations with FBS conferences.

The last year has also seen Name, Image and Likeness change athletics forever. Although it hasn't been clear how much it's impacted Missouri State, it's a development the school has to be mindful of as it heads into the future.

Moats has learned from mistakes and has improved

Smart applauded for the way Moats has responded to the low points over his time as an athletics director.

The two lows of Moats' time as the Bears' athletics director have come in the form of extensions given out to coaches of revenue programs that didn't pan out.

Moats rewarded men's basketball coach Paul Lusk with a five-year extension following a 2013-14 season where the Bears won 20 games. The Bears didn't win 20 games or more for the remainder of Lusk's time with the school before he was fired following the 2017-18 season.

Moats also rewarded football coach Dave Steckel after his second season with the team after turning in a 4-7 season to follow a 1-10 year. The Bears went 8-25 the next three seasons, including a 1-10 season his final year, before he was let go to make way for Bobby Petrino.

In recent years, Smart has recognized Moats' ability to learn on the job and has seen the different programs benefit from it.

"I think he's grown in the job just like how I've grown in my job," Smart said. "Kyle has clearly done that and he's got the respect of other athletic directors and he's got the respect of our coaches. I just think he's knocked it out of the park, and our board thinks he's doing great."

Smart recognizes the momentum under Moats

Smart said there was a point where he never thought the football program would get fixed, but Moats' relationship with Petrino helped lead to a pair of historic seasons and a promising outlook for the immediate future.

Smart pointed to how he likes the players Dana Ford has brought in during the offseason while noting "we've got to see if they can play as a team." He complimented the Lady Bears' outlook under new head coach Beth Cunningham along with the men's soccer team. He noted the volleyball team should improve.

With many promising coaches Missouri State feels like it has in place, Smart said the next step is working on the facility side with football noted in particular. The school is deep into researching the possibility of additional football facilities including a south end zone football offices facility that could cost around $20 million. An indoor practice facility has also been discussed. The school also recently collaborated with Springfield Public Schools to build a collegiate-level throwing facility which is something MSU had to cut from its budget just five years ago.

"I feel really good about where we are at," Smart said.

Additional details in Kyle Moats' contract

In addition to the four-year contract with a $185,000 annual salary, Moats is up for incentives depending on student-academic achievement and performance on the field.

Moats will receive $2,500 if all university teams meet the NCAA's calculated Academic Progress Rate or exceed the APR cut score.

If the men's or women's basketball team, football team, indoor volleyball team, baseball team or men's soccer team finishes as champions or co-champions in the Missouri Valley Conference, Moats will be paid $2,000 for each championship. If any other team finishes as champions or co-champions in the conference in which it participates, Moats will receive $1,000 for each title.

If the men's or women's basketball team is invited to the NCAA postseason tournament, Moats will be paid an additional $2,000. The university will pay periodic dues for Moats and his family for a membership at Twin Oaks Country Club.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: The details on Missouri State Athletics Director Kyle Moats' contract