JMU's Houston has retention bonuses, no FBS clause
HARRISONBURG — James Madison wants new football coach Mike Houston to stick around.
JMU and Houston agreed on a binding “memorandum of understanding” last week, with the coach earning a base salary of $300,000 annually for five years.
The 44-year-old agreed to three escalating “retention” bonuses, which – if he remains at JMU for the duration of what would be a five-year contract – will pay him the equivalent of $350,000 annually.
A final contract has not been signed.
Houston – who made $210,000 last year as The Citadel’s head coach – is not eligible to receive those bonuses from JMU until after his third season.
“Anytime you go through a transition with a coaching staff, it takes resources and time, and if you’ve got a coach that you’re happy with, it’s our opinion that we should do all that we can to keep him,” Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne said.
This is the first time in JMU history, according to Bourne, that the school has ever offered retention bonuses to a coach.
Houston is replacing ex-coach Everett Withers, who bolted last month after two nine-win seasons to take over at FBS Texas State.
If Houston stays at Madison for three seasons, he is entitled to a $75,000 bonus. After his fourth season, Houston would receive an additional $93,750, and if he completes the duration of his contract, he would receive another $81,250.
Those bonuses are covered by the James Madison University Foundation, which – according to the memorandum – will deposit $50,000 annually into an account earmarked for Houston’s retention incentives. Those bonuses are the only part of Houston’s salary that is supplemented by the JMU Foundation, Bourne said.
Houston’s contract needs to be signed by April 1 or the agreement is void.
Withers made $325,000 per season at Madison and did not have retention bonuses included in his contract. He compiled an 18-7 record at the FCS school and reached the playoffs twice.
“We had been looking at clauses like this in the past with some of our coaching staff,” Bourne said. “We felt like given the timing of Coach Houston’s arrival on campus that it would be an appropriate opportunity to place that clause in the contract.”
Houston’s agreement, however, does not include anything about a potential move to FBS.
When Withers and Madison agreed to a memorandum of understanding in December 2013, the agreement included a “conference re-alignment” clause, which stated that Withers could renegotiate “within three months” if the school were to announce a change in conferences. Withers’ salary, the memorandum stated, would be “adjusted to meet or exceed the 50th percentile level” for a head coach in whatever league JMU joins.
No such clause is in Houston’s agreement.
At the time of Withers’ hiring, an independent study commissioned by JMU – the Carr Report – had concluded that Madison was ready for a jump to an FBS conference. Sources have said the Dukes are interested in joining Conference USA or the Mid-American Conference.
“I don’t think there’s a specific reason that it was in [Withers’ contract],” Bourne said. “Obviously if that’s a move that we made, we would feel confident working with our coach as we transitioned. I don’t think it has a bearing one way or the other.”
Additional benefits in Houston’s memorandum include a car stipend of “not less than $1,000 a month,” and a discretionary fund of “not less than $10,000 a year.”
Houston will owe Madison $350,000 if he terminates his contract prior to Jan. 31, 2018. If Houston opts to leave the school sometime between Feb. 1, 2018 and Jan. 31, 2019, he owes Madison $250,000. If he terminates his contract any time after that, Houston would owe JMU a $150,000 buyout.
Houston – a native of Franklin, N.C. – led The Citadel to a 9-4 record in 2015 and a 6-1 mark in the FCS Southern Conference.
The Bulldogs won a share of the conference title and qualified for the playoffs, making their first postseason appearance in 23 years.
Houston was named the Southern Conference’s Coach of the Year.