Any idea why Rhule almost didn't happen?
- Thread starter Antwill
- Start date
I'm trying to understand how Carolina was part of the negotiations? Wouldn't anything we paid Rhule decrease their obligation to him and wouldn't they be happy with that?
I can understand if they would have objected to him doing what Mike Riley did to us by taking an assistant job back at OSU for $50K/year after we fired him and continue to stick us with paying him almost all of his annual buyout. Maybe they were playing hard ball and saying that unless we paid him X amount, they weren't going to let him out of his contract to take another job? His contract with them must have given them some kind of say so over him taking a new job.
I can understand if they would have objected to him doing what Mike Riley did to us by taking an assistant job back at OSU for $50K/year after we fired him and continue to stick us with paying him almost all of his annual buyout. Maybe they were playing hard ball and saying that unless we paid him X amount, they weren't going to let him out of his contract to take another job? His contract with them must have given them some kind of say so over him taking a new job.
IIRC Carolina was obligated to pay $8.8 million per year for the next 4-5 years As his contract was guaranteed. But obligation would be lessened by the amount he was payed in his next job with a stipulation that he was paid at market value so Carolina wasn’t stuck with the whole bill for his next job. As Saban’s Base salary is “only” 9.9 million per year there may have been a disagreement about what market value is for a very good, but not Sabin level coach. Somehow Alberts came up with a compromise plan that satisfied everyone (Rhule said Trev is really creative). Another guess but I’m assuming that involves a Nebraska booster(s) that expects a skybox with a better view next year…
If I am reading between the lines correctly, much of it had to do with David Teller and the Panthers contract, who was still on the hook to pay Rhule $34 million with a special contract clause if he was fired. I have a feeling that it made it really difficult for Rhule’s agent to swing a 7-year deal vs 8-year deal.
In his first 4 years at Nebraska, Rhule will make $5.5m, $6.5m, $7.5m, then $8.5m totaling at $28 million. The Panthers definitely played hard ball with some kind of “market value” clause, as mentioned above. And someone can correct me if I’m wrong but it looks like the Panthers only will have to pay Rhule $6 million.
When asked what he would do different at the NFL level...Rhule said he would take a different job. Hahahaha.
I'm guessing it had to do with Carolina's willingness to contest the "market rate" term in their contract and whether we were attempting to backload any of the salary. There also had to be a negotiation between Nebraska and Carolina because I could see both sides wanting a compromise that ends up with neither paying the full freight and Rhule getting more than he would've had he just sat out. Will be interesting when the details of the contract are known.
The specific details of annual pay? Is any of the salary backloaded? I'm just wondering if we're paying him less than $8m/per the first 4 years. If so, there was negotiation on that with Carolina.
I had a buddy who told his wife it's not about how well you paint the ceiling but how well you paint the walls. He said when he got too old to cut the mustard, he's just lick the jar.
According to an article on the OWH, the back loaded salary was the issue. It didn't go into a lot of detail, but it looks like the problem was as you mentioned above, i.e. getting the Panthers happy without covering all their costs.
The Panthers still owed him $40 million at the time of his firing. They had already paid $6 million by the time Trev hired him, so they still owed $34 million. So they will pay him another $6 million and will have paid him $34 million total for 2 1/3 seasons of work.
Why do the Panthers have to be happy with our deal with Rhule?
Maybe they can, but how could Carolina block any deal Nebraska makes with Rhule?
They are entitled to reduce their payout by Rhule's market value if he accepts new employment. Since they were paying him $8.8 million, they will say that is market value (and hard to argue that it isn't at least close). So unless they sign off on any deal that pays Rhule less than $8.8 million/year, Rhule runs the risk that they won't cover any shortfall claiming that he entered into a below market contract. NU wants to backload the salary, so he wouldn't get $8.8 for the first 3- 4 years. It looks like there was a compromise and the Panthers agreed to cover a relatively small amount of his salary.
I think that's it.
We evidently didn't have that clause in Mike Riley's contract when he took that assistant coaching job at OSU for $50K/year.
Or maybe we did and we couldn't in good argue in good faith that wasn't market value for Mike
