Nebraska Interim head coach Mickey Joseph contract details released

The contract details for interim head coach Mickey Joseph were released on Friday, Sept. 23 and have a number of incentives built in according to Rivals. Some of those incentives did draw derision from certain national media figures, though.

College Football Playoff titles aside, Joseph will see just a modest salary increase to his original $600,000/year salary for his new role leading the team. According to Rivals, Joseph will get a $33,350 per month stipend increase for his increased job responsibilities as interim head coach. He already would be receiving approximately $50,000 in gross monthly income based on his original salary.

There are plenty of incentives built in to bring that income up in a hurry, however. Should Nebraska surprise pretty much everyone out there by winning at least a share of the Big Ten West title, UNL will give Joseph a bonus of $100,000.

Should The Huskers get that title in such a way to punch a trip to Indy for the first time in a decade but lose, that would earn Joseph another $200,000 for an appearance in the title game. A win would mean $300,000, however.

One final interesting provision, again according to Rivals, is that should Nebraska hire a new head coach from outside the program then Joseph’s original two-year contract as a wide receivers coach would resume. That means whether he is retained by the new head coach or not, he would be owed the remainder of his contract (roughly another year of salary at $600,000 per year, give or take a few months).

By comparison to recent interim head coach roles at the Power Five level, Ed Orgeron took over for LSU in 2016 for seven games remaining on the Tigers’ schedule. He was earning $600,000 per year as LSU’s defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator prior to assuming the head coach role for the remainder of the season. For his new duties, he received one lump sum payment up front of $675,000 in addition to other minor details and his usual salary.

In 2021, Washington State hired Jake Dickert as interim head coach for the final five games of the regular season. However, contract details for his tenure as interim were not disclosed as far as I was able to locate. Dickert was later retained as the head coach following the conclusion of the regular season on a five-year, $13.5 million contract with an annual salary of $2.7 million.