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Indiana released the full details of Archie Miller’s contract this morning.
Most of it is stuff we already know. Miller will receive about $3.35 million per year over the course of a 7-year, $24 million contract. For comparison, this is about $250,000 more per year than what Chris Holtmann will make over his 8-year deal at Ohio State.
But there’s one small stipulation of this contract, and it rules.
Per open records request, Miller will make $125,000 for playing no more than one non-con opponent with RPI above 300. #iubb
— Mike Miller (@MikeMillerHT) June 27, 2017
Full terms of that particular bonus, in contract language itself. #iubb pic.twitter.com/XY2B3E4fOR
— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) June 27, 2017
That’s right. Archie Miller will actually make $125,000 for not scheduling terrible teams. In Indiana’s definition, that means teams with an RPI of 300 or more. With about 350 Division 1 teams in college basketball, this ostensibly shouldn’t be too hard to do. However, after the parade of cupcakes that came in year after year during the Crean era, it is refreshing to see that IU cares about the type of opponents that its season-ticket holders get to see before B1G play starts up. This was a pet peeve of this blog for YEARS under Crean.
Yesterday, we told you about the non-conference schedule so far, which includes 8 teams. Of those, only one - Howard University in D.C. - has an RPI of over 300, which means that if Miller wants that six-figure bonus, any other non-con opponents that get scheduled will have to be outside of that range.
While $125K seems like a lot, it’s a drop in the bucket for Miller’s full contract, and this is a positive development that ultimately will be beneficial to both season-ticket holders and the team itself.