Among the many unknowns surrounding Monday night’s College Football Playoff championship game, there are least two certainties:
There will be a winner.
And, for the coaches, there will be bonuses.
If LSU claims the title, head coach Ed Orgeron will add $500,000 to the $1.275 million he already has racked up based on his team’s performance and coach of the year awards he has won.
If Clemson gets the victory, it will be worth another $250,000 for Dabo Swinney, who has secured $600,000 in incentives so far and would surpass $5 million in total bonuses over the last five seasons with a win.
His pay from the school for 2019 was nearly $9.3 million, the most among football coaches this season, according USA TODAY’s annual survey of FBS head coaches’ pay.
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The teams’ assistant coaches and head strength coaches also will have money at stake Monday night. Clemson’s can pick up an additional $25,000 with a win. That would give nine of the assistants and the strength coach a total of $95,000 apiece; defensive coordinator Brent Venables will be getting an another $200,000 based on team’s defense having already met a set of statistical goals.
Three of LSU’s assistants — Dave Aranda, Steve Ensminger and Tommie Robinson — can each get an extra $25,000 for a total of $125,000. The others, and the team’s head strength coach, can get an extra $15,000 for a total of $75,000 apiece. Ensminger, the team’s offensive coordinator, could get up to another $125,000 in statistics-based incentives, but how much he ends with will depend somewhat on what happens Monday night.
For Orgeron, a final on-the-field haul of $1.775 million would be a little more than half of what his basic annual compensation was during each of his first two full seasons as LSU’s head coach. And he could add another $200,000 based on team academic performance.
His basic annual pay from the school for the 2019 season was $4 million. That tied him for 28th in USA TODAY’s annual pay survey.
If LSU wins Monday night, his on-field bonus total will be greater than:
►The basic annual compensation totals this season for at least 50 head coaches.
►The combined pay for the entire 10-man assistant coaching staffs of at least 40 schools.
It also will be the greatest single-season total in the six years USA TODAY Sports has been tracking the bonuses reached by Bowl Subdivision public-school coaches. Swinney picked up $1.525 million during the 2016 season, when Clemson won the CFP title.
Orgeron collected a combined total of $500,000 for LSU’s 10th, 11th and 12th regular-season wins. He got $100,000 for the team playing in the SEC title game and another $200,000 for winning it.
LSU’s appearance in the CFP semifinals was worth another $250,000 and its advance to the final meant $150,000 more.
Swinney has picked up $50,000 for reaching the ACC title game and $150,000 for winning it. He claimed $200,000 for the team playing in the CFP semifinals and $200,000 more moving on to the final. He has another $100,000 in academic incentive money available.
Coming into the 2019 season, he had been paid more than $1 million in bonuses in connection with three of the previous four seasons.
