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No gamble Neuheisel successor signs four-year deal worth $870,000Posted: Friday August 08, 2003 11:30 AMSEATTLE (AP) -- Moving faster and accepting less than his fired predecessor, Washington coach Keith Gilbertson has signed a four-year contract paying as much as $870,000 a year. "I'm a pretty uncomplex man," he said Thursday. "I want a whistle and I want the chalk." Gilbertson, previously the Huskies' offensive coordinator, got the top job July 29, a day after the dismissal of Rick Neuheisel became official. He signed his 11-page contract Wednesday and school officials provided the details Thursday. Gilbertson's base pay is $420,000 a season, rising to as much as $816,000 with radio and television appearances and with incentives for postseason appearances and academic achievement, including an 85 percent graduation rate. Two cars and a country club membership bring the total to $870,000, the figure given by athletic director Barbara Hedges when Gilbertson was promoted. Neuheisel got the boot for betting thousands of dollars in neighborhood gambling pools during the past two NCAA basketball tournaments, and -- according to Hedges -- for not being forthcoming when first questioned by NCAA investigators. Had he kept his job, Neuheisel stood to receive a base salary of $625,000 this season with total compensation of as much as $1.8 million, including proration of a $1.5 million loan he received a year ago. Neuheisel's 21-page contract also provided $40,000 if the Huskies appeared in any postseason bowl game, $5,000 more than in Gilbertson's agreement, and $100,000 for a Bowl Championship Series appearance, $40,000 more than his successor would get. Neuheisel, who signed his first contract eight months after he was hired, also got a $200,000-a-year housing allowance. Gilbertson has no such provision. Gilbertson, previously a head coach at California and an assistant with the Seattle Seahawks, said his contract was "flattering" nonetheless. "Are you kidding me? My life's ambitions never really had any dollar signs on them," he said. "It was all about coaching and playing and teaching and being around young people and just the game. "Heck, for a football coach's son, that's pretty gratifying." |
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