Former San Diego State football coach Chuck Long has plenty of reasons to stay out of the coaching business for two more years.
According to the terms of his contract, he's entitled to his regular salary of more than $700,000 for the final two years of his contract unless he gets a job somewhere else.
If he obtains other employment, his contract states, “You shall be entitled to no further compensation whatsoever from the date of that other employment.”
For this reason, SDSU officials said Sunday that the buyout of his contract might not reach $1.4 million because they expected him to be able to find another job before his contract expires on Dec. 31, 2010.
But it's not likely Long, who was fired from SDSU over the weekend, will find a job that pays as well before then. While he might be able to find work soon, it likely will be as an assistant coach in a salary range of $100,000 to $200,000. Accepting such a job would mean cutting off much bigger paychecks from SDSU.
So his best financial interest probably will be to lay low at his home in Poway – unless he reaches a settlement with SDSU to pay him the full amount of more than $1.4 million.
“I assume they would want a clean break and wouldn't want him hanging around the school the next couple of years,” said Jack Mills, Long's agent.
Long's firing is technically a “reassignment” for the remainder of his contract. Similarly, former Aztecs football coach Denny Stolz was reassigned to become golf coach after being fired after the 1988 season, with three years left on his contract. It's the school's way of still getting something for its money, at least in principle. Long's predecessor, Tom Craft, also technically was “reassigned” after his firing in 2005, with one season left on his deal. SDSU officials said he worked as a liaison between the school and former players and coaches.
Don Oberhelman, SDSU's senior associate athletic director, said Long's reassignment hasn't been determined.
Oberhelman said Long would be “incredibly valuable in a development role” if Long ended up sticking around.
Brent Schrotenboer: (619) 293-1368; brent.schrotenboer@uniontrib.com
