By Jeff Sklar
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, January 26, 2004
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The Arizona Board of Regents on Friday approved a five-year contract for new head football coach Mike Stoops, offering him a $650,000 per year base salary with the potential for nearly doubling that through performance incentives.
The board unanimously approved the deal, making Stoops the UA's head coach through 2008. If he's fired before then, the UA would have to pay him a minimum of $400,000 for each year remaining on his contract.
Stoops, a former defensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma, signed a one-year contract in November, when he was hired as a permanent replacement for fired head coach John Mackovic.
The terms of the five-year contract are identical to those of the one-year contract, President Peter Likins said.
Stoops' base salary is less than that of Mackovic, who made $800,000 per year, but depending on how much Stoops earns in incentives, he could make more than Mackovic.
If Arizona plays in the national championship game, Stoops will earn a $150,000 bonus, the largest of the performance incentives in his contract. He would earn other bonuses depending on the number of season tickets sold, the team's win-loss record, its cumulative GPA and other factors.
His salary and incentives will be paid entirely from money generated by the Athletics Department, meaning he won't make money from either tax or tuition revenue.
Regents also gave the go-ahead for the UA to continue planning a new parking garage and to renovate three residence halls over the summer.
The 1,500-space garage would be built at the northern end of North Highland Avenue, between East Helen Street and East Mabel Street. It is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2005 at a cost of about $18 million.
The hall renovations will replace plumbing systems in Gila, Yuma and Arizona residence halls. Study lounges in Gila and Yuma will also be converted to bedrooms that will house 80 additional students.
The renovations will begin in May and should be finished when students return to the halls in August.
"As soon as we can clear students out of the rooms, we'll start working on the project," said Joel Valdez, senior vice president for business affairs. "We can only do this in the summertime."
The board of regents also granted initial approval for three long-term projects that will cost about $128 million, including a downtown science center with a price tag of nearly $73 million.
This science center, which would be a cornerstone of the Rio Nuevo development project, will take the place of Flandrau Science Center on campus.
The 79,500 square foot building would contain an observatory, a large screen theater, a mineral museum and several other features.
The other $55 million would cover $47 million for construction on the UA's Environment and Natural Resources Complex, which would promote interdisciplinary research in earth science and environmental programs, and $8 million for further residence hall renovation.
Regents' President Chris Herstam on Friday also signed an agreement between the board and the City of Phoenix to construct facilities that would allow the UA, ASU and NAU to combine research efforts in the biosciences.
The agreement is the latest development in the state's effort to become a national leader in biosciences research, a possibility that officials say will only occur if universities collaborate with each other, as well as with governmental agencies and the private sector.
"This is an exciting project that is very well coordinated between the UA, ASU and NAU," Herstam said.
Details and costs for the facilities have not been worked out, but regents will approve them as projects are developed.
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