Les Miles, Paul Mainieri set for pay raises at Friday’s board meeting

By CODY WORSHAM
Tiger Rag Editor

LSU’s chances of reaching the College Football Playoff took a hit last week against Wisconsin.

Should they get there and advance, however, Les Miles will, in all likelihood, get an extra $100,000.

LSU’s Board of Supervisors will meet Friday, and on the agenda are a number of items pertaining to athletics. Among the foremost are Miles’ contract, which is set to be amended to add $100,000 extra to his incentive pay, should LSU make the College Football Playoff, and a contract extension and pay raise for LSU baseball head coach Paul Mainieri.

Miles’ deal, if approved, will not increase his certain annual compensation of $4.3 million. It will, however, increase his maximum postseason incentive pay from $500,000 to $600,000, in the case that LSU makes the College Football Playoff, in order to account for the extra postseason game the playoff could produce.

“Under the CFP format there is a possibility of a team playing two post-season games instead of one under the BCS format,” the contract notes read. “Therefore, there is an increase of $100,000 in total possible postseason compensation to recognize the possibility of participating in two games.”

Mainieri to make millions

Here are the details on Mainieri’s extension and raise, as reported by James Moran last week:

LSU gave Mainieri a four-year extension that runs through 2024 and will pay the coach $1.125 million in annual salary, according to the Board of Supervisors agenda released Friday. The extension is expected to be approved when the board meets next Friday, Sept. 9.

According to his previous contract, Mainieri earned $750,000 in guaranteed annual compensation, making the raise worth $375,000 per year. Under the new deal, he’ll earn a $100,000 bonus at the completion of each season he remains with the program.

Mainieri finished his 10th season as LSU’s head coach this spring. He captured the program’s sixth national title back in 2009 and has taken the Tigers to Omaha four times during his decade at the helm.

With this raise, he’ll rank among the highest-paid coaches in college baseball.  Mainieri was one of several high-profile college coaches linked to the Texas vacancy eventually filled by Tulane’s David Pierce.