The Louisville Courier-Journal report that revealed that 98 percent of the Adidas money paid to Louisville went directly to basketball coach Rick Pitino suggested an obvious question locally: What percent of the money that Adidas pays Kansas Athletics Inc. goes directly to Bill Self?
Zero, according to KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony, who said that the financial agreement between Kansas Athletics and Adidas stipulates that all money is paid directly to Kansas Athletics and that Self has never had a separate contract with Adidas during his time at KU.
Such language is directly addressed in Section 9C of Self’s contract with KU, which states: “… Head coach agrees he shall not negotiate a separate contract with any footwear, apparel or beverage manufacturer while serving as head men’s basketball coach.”
“It all goes into the same pot, and that goes in with the TV revenue and basketball tournament revenue and ticket revenue and NCAA revenue, and then we decide how much money we have to spend on X, Y and Z,” Marchiony said. “Adidas is one source that goes into that equation. It’s a budgeting process, and you develop priorities based on revenue and expenses, and you go from there.”
The word “Adidas” does not appear anywhere in Self’s contract, which was renewed in 2012 and runs through the 2021-22 season, paying him an average of roughly $5 million per year for the length of the contract.
Kansas recently announced it had come to a 14-year, $191-million contract agreement with Adidas, extending a partnership that was born at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year.
Kansas had been a Nike school until former athletic director Lew Perkins headed the switch to Adidas.
The $191 million figure consists of “cash and product,” Marchiony said.
“Whatever you’re talking about, cash or product, it all comes to Kansas Athletics first,” Marchiony said. “Adidas pays the school and not Bill.”
Explaining why it is structured that way, Marchiony said: “It’s a reflection of the fact that any coach at KU is an employee of Kansas Athletics and nobody else.”
A Journal-World review of the original contract between Kansas Athletics and Adidas showed that Adidas’ payments to Kansas Athletics were 48 percent cash and 52 percent products in the original, eight-year, $25.17 million contract. An amendment, which became effective in 2012 and extended the deal by six years (2013-19) for a total of $25.45 million, reworked those numbers to 44 percent cash and 56 percent product
The latest $191-million agreement between Kansas Athletics and Adidas, which will extend through the 2030-31 school year, has not yet been signed, and specifics of it were not available.
In the case of Louisville, Pitino arrived at the school with a personal services contract in place with Adidas, and that continued when the apparel company and university reached a sponsorship agreement to make Adidas the athletic department’s exclusive outfitter.
Pitino pocketed $3 million from Adidas during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons combined, and the athletic department received $35,000 during the same time period, according to the Courier-Journal.
With nine years remaining on his contract and nearly $45 million of potential earnings on the table, Pitino collected a salary of around $5 million per year from Louisville. According to a recent report from USA Today, however, Pitino’s “other pay,” which USA Today listed at $2.7 million, was set to make Pitino the highest-paid coach in college basketball for the 2017-18 season.
Self is listed fourth by USA Today, with a school pay amount of $4.75 million and “other pay” listed at $180,000, which Marchiony said was “outside income,” which includes speaking engagements, basketball camps and miscellaneous other sources.
According to Section 8A in the original contract between Kansas Athletics and Adidas, under the title “Promotional Appearances,” Adidas reserves the right to request and receive, for no additional compensation, up to three appearances annually by KU coaches in all programs excluding men’s basketball for the “sponsorship recognition and promotion and sale of adidas Products.”
KU officials could not recall why men’s basketball was excluded in Section 8A, but the contract also does not include anything requiring Self or any other men’s basketball coaches to participate in any such appearances.