Sanchez to get four-year, $500,000 annual salary from UNLV

New UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez will make an annual salary of $500,000 in a four-year, incentive-laden contract, pending approval by the University of Nevada Board of Regents.

The Board of Regents will take up the contract in a special meeting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Sanchez’s deal includes $250,000 in base pay and $125,00 each for media and public appearances.

UNLV will officially introduce Sanchez as its coach at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Stan Fulton Building on campus. Athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy also will be part of the news conference, and interim university President Don Snyder will take part via teleconference.

Sanchez, 40, leaves Bishop Gorman High School, where he has won six state championships in a row and owns the nation’s top-ranked team in the USA Today poll.

He is one of six finalists for national Coach of the Year by the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Committee.

The incentives in Sanchez’s contract, which he signed Tuesday, are many:

— $30,000 for 11 victories in a season, $25,000 for 10, $20,000 for nine, $15,000 for eight and $10,000 for seven.

— $100,000 for appearing in a New Year’s Six bowl, $25,000 for making the Las Vegas Bowl, $20,000 for playing in the Poinsettia Bowl and $10,000 for any other bowl.

— $25,000 for winning the Mountain West championship, $10,000 for being ranked in the final coaches’ poll and $10,000 for being named conference Coach of the Year.

— $25,000 for appearing in a Saturday game on ESPN or ESPN2 and $15,000 for playing on a weekday game on one of those networks.

— $25,000 for achieving a one-year Academic Progress Rate of 960, $15,000 for a 955 multiyear APR and $5,000 for each academic All-American. (A team must achieve a minimum four-year APR average of 930 to be eligible for the postseason, which was UNLV’s score before last season.)

— $10,000 for every 5,000 in additional season-ticket sales over the previous year.

The maximum total for the TV, ticket sales and academic bonuses is $50,000. The other incentives are not included in that cap.

As for the buyout information, Sanchez would receive the remainder of his $250,000 base salary through the end of his term if UNLV fires him. He also could take a $500,000 lump-sum payment if the termination occurs by June 30, 2017, or $250,000 if it’s after that date.

Should Sanchez resign before Dec. 15, 2016, he would owe UNLV $1 million, or $750,000 if it’s afterward.

Sanchez replaces Bobby Hauck, who went 15-49 in five seasons, including 2-11 this year, and will try to turn around a UNLV program that produced four winning seasons in the past 28 years.

The annual pay is below the $700,000 salary Hauck was making when he resigned Dec. 1, but equal to what he received in his first contract. Hauck was awarded a new three-year deal in January after leading the Rebels to the Heart of Dallas Bowl last season.

But Sanchez’s four-year agreement is one more season than what Hauck was initially given.

So Sanchez gets a little more security in exchange for less pay up front. But if he turns the Rebels into winners, the money will eventually come. And with a four-year deal, in reality he has three seasons to prove he can succeed where so many others have failed.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.