Clemson football defensive coordinator Brent Venables is about to have the most lucrative contract for an college assistant coach at a public school: a five-year deal that is basically guaranteed to pay him a total of $11.6 million.
The contract, approved Thursday by the Clemson board of trustees’ compensation committee, moves the value of Venables’ agreement past the four-year, $10 million deal LSU approved for defensive coordinator Dave Aranda in February.
Aranda’s agreement calls for him to be paid $2.5 million each year.
According to a term sheet released Thursday by Clemson, Venables is set to receive $2.2 million for the upcoming season, $2.2 million for the 2019 season and then $2.4 million for each of the final three years. The terms were first reported by Yahoo! Sports.
Venables’ payments are fully guaranteed if he is fired without cause while Dabo Swinney remains the Tigers’ head coach, although they are subject to mitigation from Venables’ subsequent income.
If Venables is fired without cause while Swinney is no longer serving as Clemson’s head coach, Venables would get $2 million for each year left on his deal — also subject to mitigation.
The new agreement supersedes a set of terms that Clemson announced for Venables in February. That deal was for three years at $2 million for each year. Venables’ basic compensation for last season was $1.7 million, an amount he had been scheduled to make in each of four seasons.
In addition to putting two more years on Venables’ contract, Clemson added an annual season-completion benefit that will be in the form of a premium payment on a life insurance policy. The payments would be for $200,000 in each of the first two years and $400,000 in each of the last three years.
If Venables were to leave Clemson without cause for a job other than a head coaching position after this season, he would owe the school roughly $2 million. That amount declines by $500,000 per year.
