May 2, 2008
Stephens' contract details (from the D-RC):

North Texas released a copy of the contract new women's head basketball coach Shanice Stephens signed on April 16 to the Denton Record-Chronicle this afternoon. Here are the key points of the deal.

UNT signed Stephens to a five-year contract that will expire on May 31, 2013, with a _base_ salary of 137,500. The deal includes a five percent raise each year, the first of which will kick in on Sept. 1, before Stephens actually coaches her first game with the Mean Green.

Stephens will also receive a $15,000 stipend for appearing on UNT's basketball coaches radio show. There are a number of other incentives in the deal for winning the conference _title_, ticket sales and all the other typical add-ons in coaches' contracts.

When all is said and done, Stephens will be guaranteed $159,375 -- her _base_ salary, five percent raise and radio stipend -- in her first season.

For comparison sake, former UNT head coach Tina S_link_er's _base_ salary in her final contract was $92,000, although the annual salary increases she received over her tenure had boosted that total to $123,289. S_link_er's radio stipend was $10,000, brining her total -- _base_ salary, annual increases and radio stipend -- to a grand total of $133,289 in her last season.

UNT wanted to land a high-profile assistant or former head coach to replace S_link_er and was willing to spend a little extra to make that happen. If Stephens is as successful as UNT officials believe she can be, it will be money well spent.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Did UNT sign Stephens to a reasonable contract?

WHY OH WHY DO WE DO THIS? Why do we overpay people who haven't proven that they can do the job?

Don't you think we could have gotten her for less money, and less contract years? I do.

$130,000 a year...and three years...tops. That should have been the extent of this.

Fricking bullshit.

Wow, I can't believe that contract. I mean say what you want about S_link_er...she deserved to make some coin after all the years of service. And Stephens is making significantly more and hasn't done anything.

With that 5 percent annual raise....she'll be making between $180,000 and $200,000 at the end of this contract. Think we can afford to buy that out...say...if she's not successful after 3 years or so???

And btw...it's laughable that we give coaches money for radio shows...when those shows are on a non-commercial station. (And I realize that TD and JJ get radio money, too. But, when we and the station aren't making money off the radio shows...it's a joke. I'd just include that $$ in the _base_ salary.)

Thanks RV.....just another bigass contract that you've saddled us with. Hope she does well.

Well coaches always have wierd bonuses written in. Like I think Pete Carrol used to get something like 10K "extra" for keeping USC in the Pac-10. Like they would EVER get kicked out of the Pac-10 conference.