Dave Christensen
The new contract comes after Christensen’s third year at UW. Christensen has lead the Cowboys to two bowl games, both the New Mexico Bowl, and has a 1-1 record in the games. He was also named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.
“This is a big step for Wyoming Athletics and it allows us to maintain continuity in the leadership position of Cowboy Football,” UW athletics director Tom Burman said. “This could not have occurred without the great support of ticket buyers, sponsor and donors to UW… We feel this positions us to be one of the premier programs in the Mountain West moving forward.”
His raise will be in excess of $350,00 as he received $861,000 previously. This previous year, the Cowboys were 8-5 under Christensen, the best record in recent years. If the Cowboys are able to achieve the same record next year, Christensen will be paid an average $150,000 for every victory by the Cowboys.
In comparison, Chris Peterson, head coach for college football power house Boise State, just received a new contract that will pay him $2 million a year.
Boise State has won an average of 13 games over the last three years and has been competitive on the national scene, meaning if they win 13 games in 2012 he will make an average of $153,846 per victory.
Christensen is the top paid state employee.
Wyoming governor Matt Mead’s current salary is $152,934 annually.
I am a 1992 graduate of UW and I am completely disgusted by this story. I find it utterly appalling that Dave Christensen is suddenly worth another $350,000+ and that the school’s priority is to pay this ridiculous sum for something that has very little educational value. Jack up the tuition, let’s whittle away at the library and the liberal arts… seems to be the new no-thinking here.
What’s amazing to me, astounding really, is that there is no shame. Oh no, we’re out crowing about this as if it’s something to be proud of, rather than a total embarrassment. I am beyond disgusted. Shame, shame, shame!
Tim Burman and every other idiot involved in this decision should be fired!
Apparently you haven’t seen the new Coe library or the new Visual Arts building being dedicated in the coming weeks. Yeah, we’re definitely whittling away at the library and liberal arts. Get over it. Athletics brings in a lot of money. When was the last time the liberal arts brought 30,000+ to Laramie on a weekend in September?
@SoAppropos:disqus , every contending team’s coach gets paid well over a million a year. Alabama’s head coach get’s paid 6 million. The amount that Christensen makes is irrelevant to those numbers. First off, he won’t make the full amount of his contract unless UW is practically undefeated. It’s an incentive-laden contract. Second the football program brings in at least that much annually. The bowl game brought UW over 500k. Last time I saw liberal arts bring in that type of cash was….wait that has never happened!