Ray Tanner makes clear why Muschamp contract change wasn’t executed
One could probably read in the connection, but in a Wednesday radio interview with 107.5 The Game, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner made clear the reason a contract addendum to Will Muschamp’s deal didn’t go into effect.
Muschamp, who was fired a month ago, took the cut to hold onto running backs coach Thomas Brown. Brown left for the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL, and thus, the change wasn’t executed.
“Coach Muschamp really wanted to keep (Brown) here, and he made and offer to reduce his contract by a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to keep Thomas Brown if, in fact, Thomas would stay,” Tanner said. “Well, Thomas ended up not staying. So that addendum to the contract was not executed. So the contract that we’re referring to remains in existence.”
The reduction was a removal of an annual raise and was voted on in December of 2019. It accounted for about $2 million of potential buyout money if Muschamp was fired at the point he was let go. That had not been made directly public before last week.
Tanner said the school is negotiating with Muschamp’s camp about the exact terms of his departure. His deal is set to be paid out across four years, but that’s something that could potentially be shifted around.
“A lot of times coaches, during the course of their career, have addendum added, things changed, not always monetary,” Tanner said. “But things that are added to the contract, whether it’s a courtesy car, whether it’s a stipend, whether it’s tickets, whatever the case may be. And so that was an addendum that was tied to Thomas Brown.”
The school passed the first contract for incoming coach Shane Beamer, a 5-year, $2.75 million deal. He also reiterated the school is going to give Beamer the support he needs to hire the staff he wants.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 3:09 PM.
