New Auburn football coach Gene Chizik is greeted by Claudia Isaac before speaking. Photo: Trent Penny /The Anniston Star
The agreement was fairly simple and included the base salary of $1.9 million annually over five years. Chizik is also eligible for bonuses based on his team's academic success and on his own performance on an annual basis.
Auburn also agreed that, in the case of termination without cause, the school would pay Chizik the base salary for the remaining term of his contract. The buyout goes both ways, meaning if Chizik resigned he would pay the base salary for the remaining years on his contract.
The agreement also said the two parties "will work together in a timely and cooperative manner to agree upon the remaining terms set forth in the contract to be executed."
Chizik's contract has not yet been completed.
The Anniston Star made an open-records acts request for all coaching contracts on Jan. 19. To date, the contracts have not been released.
Several of those contracts, like Chizik's, have likely not been finalized yet. That is at least a somewhat regular practice in college athletics. Some coaches go more than a year without signing an official and legal contract.
