clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

After CWS Championship, it's payday for Virginia Baseball Head Coach Brian O'Connor

Smile, coach. It's time to get paid.
Smile, coach. It's time to get paid.
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Virginia Baseball Head Coach Brian O'Connor just led his team to the program's first-ever national championship. First and foremost, this of course carries the intangible benefits - his team just won a national championship. But you know what else this means?

For Brian O'Connor, it's payday.

We looked at O'Connor's employment agreement with the University to do some back-of-the-envelope math on just how big of a payday this is for him.

O'Connor's annual base salary is $225,000, or $18,750 per month. In addition to this base salary, O'Connor gets $375,000 in supplemental compensation. The supplemental compensation is for things like radio and TV appearances, or VAF speaking engagements. He also gets paid for Virginia Baseball being a Rawlings team, though the details of that are set forth in another agreement (we suspect, but have not confirmed, that it's a pretty lucrative deal).

There are other smaller things, like season ticket allotments, car stipends, travel, etc. But let's get to the good stuff. What bonuses will O'Connor get following this season?

The following is a breakdown of the different bonus categories, together with achievement status:

Bonus Category

Bonus Amount

Achieved?

Team GPA 2.7+

$5,000

Unknown - information not yet released

Adjusted Graduation Rate of 90%+

$5,000

Unknown - information not yet released

Academic Progress Rate of 930 or above

$5,000

Achieved (APR 973)

ACC Championship (Regular Season or Tournament)

$3,000

Not Achieved

NCAA Regional Participation

$7,000

Achieved

NCAA Regional Host

$5,000

Not Achieved

NCAA Super Regional Participation

$10,000

Achieved

NCAA Super Regional Host

$10,000

Achieved

College World Series Participation

1 month's base salary ($18,750)

Achieved

College World Series Championship

1.5 month's base salary ($28,125)

Achieved

Top 20 Finish in National Poll  (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, or USA Today Coaches Poll)

$5,000*

Achieved

Top 10 Finish in National Poll (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, or USA Today Coaches Poll)

$10,000*

Achieved

Coach of the Year (Virginia College Sports Information Directors)

$1,000

Unknown - information not yet released

ACC Coach of the Year (Associated Press or USA Today)

$3,000**

Not Achieved

National Coach of the Year (Associated Press or USA Today)

$5,000**

Unknown - information not yet released

(All bonus categories are cumulative and paid up to the highest level achieved.)
* Bonus is calculated based on highest placement in either poll.
** Only one bonus paid per category, if awarded by more than one entity.

So, adding up all the eligible categories, we're looking at at least $93,875 in bonuses, with a great shot of adding National Coach of the Year and VaSID Coach of the Year. GPA and graduation rates haven't been released, but of O'Connor achieves either bonus category, he'll have cracked $100K in bonuses alone.

His achieved bonuses, plus his base salary and supplemental compensation, come out to a cool $693,875, with the possibility of breaking $700K.

If you ask any Virginia fan, I'd bet they'd say that every penny of that is well-deserved.