Colorado State AD Joe Parker can earn $60K in bonuses

Unlike his predecessor, CSU athletic director Joe Parker can earn plenty of incentives for the success of his department.

Colorado State University provided the Coloradoan a copy of Parker’s contract Friday, and within it is a bonus structure focused around both athletics and academics that will reward him for achievements through the agreement’s end date of April 5, 2020.

A series of 10 bonuses of $5,000 or $10,000 would reward Parker for CSU athletics success on the field and in the classroom, along with success in increasing athletics ticket sales and fundraising.

In addition to a base salary of $325,000, Parker can earn bonuses of up to $60,000 per year, pushing his potential annual earnings to $385,000. Former CSU athletic director Jack Graham had a base salary of $260,000 and a maximum of $700 in bonuses.

CSU president Tony Frank fired Graham in August 2014 and cited the “termination for convenience” clause in his contract, which has the university paying Graham his salary through 2016.

CSU said Graham’s firing was unrelated to his efforts to build an on-campus stadium. Via an open records request, the Coloradoan obtained a performance review of the former athletic director in which he scored poorly and illustrated that he fostered a poor work environment.

Included in the termination for just cause section of Parker’s contract are clauses that allow the university to fire him should he cause it to be portrayed in a negative light or should he engage in “conduct that constitutes verbal abuse, emotional abuse or physical abuse or acts of violence.”

In addition, there is what equates to a “buck-stops-here” clause that holds Parker responsible for penalties should CSU commit NCAA violations as a result of his actions or anyone following his instructions.

Parker can be terminated with just cause for failing to follow instructions given to him by the CSU president.

Parker’s base salary and bonuses can be renegotiated should CSU leave the Mountain West for a Power 5 conference during the contract’s term. There is also a maximum of $20,000 in incentives that will be pooled and distributed to the department based on the same personal bonuses Parker can receive for academic scores, graduation rates and ticket revenue.

Parker has a maximum $1 million buyout should he terminate the contract before 2020. The buyout decreases by $250,000 every April and bottoms out at $150,000 during the final year of his employment term.

Should CSU elect to terminate Parker without cause, the university must pay him using the same scale as the buyout, with the exception of during the final year of his employment term, if the compensation he’s owed is less than $150,000.

For insight and analysis on athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.

Potential bonuses in Joe Parker’s contract

•$5,000 if at least half of CSU teams have a perfect Academic Progress Rate score in an individual academic year

•$5,000 if CSU teams have the highest graduation rate in its current conference

•$5,000 if CSU teams have a combined cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better in an individual academic year

•$5,000 if the CSU football team wins a conference championship

•$5,000 if the CSU men’s basketball team plays in the NCAA tournament

•$5,000 if the CSU women’s basketball team plays in the NCAA tournament

•$5,000 if the CSU volleyball team plays in the NCAA tournament

•$5,000 if a CSU team other than football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball wins a conference championship (limited to one $5,000 bonus per year)

•$5,000 if total ticket revenue exceeds the prior year’s revenue by 10 percent; $10,000 if exceeded by 20 percent

•$5,000 if total annual giving to the Ram Club exceeds the prior year’s donations by 10 percent, $10,000 if exceeded by 20 percent