Auburn's historic season came to a screeching halt on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but Bruce Pearl is set to cash in on the Tigers' memorable year.
Despite the lopsided loss to Clemson, Pearl's team put together one of the more unforgettable seasons in program history -- especially given the circumstances following the FBI's probe into then-assistant coach Chuck Person back in September. After guiding the Tigers to a 26-win season, a share of the SEC title and the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in 15 years, Pearl is due to collect on substantial contractual bonuses.
Per the terms of the contract Pearl signed four years ago, the Auburn coach earned $250,000 in bonuses this season on top of his $2,475,000 base salary.
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Pearl earned a $25,000 bonus for reaching 22 wins, which Auburn accomplished Feb. 10 on the road against Georgia. He earned an additional $25,000 for reaching 25 wins on the season, which Auburn accomplished in its regular-season finale against South Carolina at home on March 3.
That game also triggered two additional bonuses for Pearl.
With that win, Auburn clinched a share of its first SEC regular-season title since 1999, going wire to wire in the league and earning Pearl an additional $100,000. It also earned Pearl a $50,000 for attracting more than 8,300 fans to half of Auburn's 16 home games this season.
The Tigers officially sold out seven of their 16 games at Auburn Arena, which seats 9,121 fans, though the terms of the contract define a "sold-out" home game as at least 8,300 fans -- a mark the team surpassed in its home SEC opener against Arkansas on Jan. 6, with 8,950 in attendance. The only SEC home game that was not defined as "sold-out" by those terms was the team's lone home loss against Texas A&M on Feb. 7, which had an official attendance of 7,631.
Pearl also earned a $50,000 bonus for taking Auburn to the NCAA Tournament, snapping a 15-year program drought. The Tigers earned a No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, won their first-round game against 13-seed College of Charleston and then lost to fifth-seeded Clemson in the second round -- which prevented Pearl from triggering another $50,000 for a Sweet 16 berth.
Those bonuses will be paid to Pearl by May 30, according to his contract.
Auburn's coach could earn as much as $75,000 in additional bonuses in the coming months when the NCAA releases its annual academic progress rate reports. Pearl could earn $75,000 if his team has a perfect APR, $50,000 if its APRI is over 950 and $25,000 if the APR is over 925. Last year, the team had an APR of 980, and a multi-year APR of 978.
That bonus will be due to Pearl within 30 days of the NCAA's release of the APR report.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
from Auburn Sports Impact http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/index.ssf/2018/03/bruce_pearl_total_bonuses.html
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