Two years ago, Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley had his salary cut in half and the head-coach-in-waiting agreement rescinded from his contract after he admitted to using a racial slur in a text message in 2013.
In March, though, Utah bumped the longtime Utes assistant’s salary up to $1.4 million in a three-year deal, according to a report Friday from ESPN.
That’s nearly triple the $525,000 he made in 2020 following the disciplinary action.
Scalley, 42, is in his seventh season as the Utes’ defensive coordinator and in 2019 he was a finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach. This is his 15th season on Kyle Whittingham’s staff after the Salt Lake City native played at Utah in the early 2000s.
“Morgan Scalley is an instrumental part of our success and has tremendous support from within the football program and beyond,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said in a statement to ESPN.
“He meets regularly with a campus leadership team to create a space where the work of equity, diversity and inclusion will impact our athletics department. His continuous actions to implement what he learns has helped ensure a positive impact on the lives of his football student-athletes. We look forward to many more years of Morgan’s presence on the sideline.”
What details are included in Morgan Scalley’s contract?
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Scalley’s pay was upped to $1.1 million last year, after one season of the reduction in pay, and then raised again to $1.4 million with the latest restructuring.
The contract includes several other parameters that Thamel outlined:
It will automatically roll over each Feb. 1, effectively retaining it as a three-year deal.
While Scalley’s contract no longer includes the head-coach-in-waiting agreement, there is a new clause that, if the school replaces Kyle Whittingham with another head coach and Scalley isn’t retained, it would cost Utah $4.2 million to part ways with Scalley.
“The potential buyout in that scenario does not include an offset clause, which would reduce the amount the school owes, if Scalley is terminated without cause and subsequently finds another job,” Thamel wrote. “If he is fired without cause while Whittingham is still the head coach, Scalley would be owed 75% of his remaining salary and that amount would be subject to offset and mitigation.”
How does that compensation compare to other Pac-12 assistant coaches?
Thamel reported Scalley’s newest contract makes him one of the Pac-12’s highest-paid assistant coaches.
Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi makes $1.7 million per year, per Thamel, and “it is likely that Trojans defensive coordinator Alex Grinch makes more than the $1.8 million he made last year at Oklahoma.”