Bill O’Brien Receives Automatic 4-Year Contract Extension Following NCAA Sanctions

Penn State must pay $60 million, forfeit every win they have claimed since 1998 and avoid post-season games for four years, however one part of the PSU puzzle is staying in place, coach Bill O’Brien.

Before the NCAA decided to punish PSU coach O’Brien signed a contract that guaranteed his extension for the same amount of time handed down in terms of post-season withdrawals. Because the NCAA has banned Penn State from post-season play O’Brien will have his contract extended through 2020.

Under his contract terms the coach will be paid his 2015 salary through 2020. Bill O’Brien has a contract that started at $950,000 with a 5% increase for each season he spends with Penn State.

According to the head football coaches contract addendum:

“Any sanction by the NCAA of a) loss of scholarships or b) bowl eligibility due to the actions of the previous staff or lack of institutional control prior to 2012 will immediately result in an automatic extension of coach’s contract at 2016 total compensation and bonus package in years equal to the number of years of the sanctions.”

While O’Brien will have a longer tenure at the University the next four years won’t be easy, yesterday I reported that O’Brien is struggling to keep his players after the NCAA said they could leave the university and transfer to other schools with no penalties. O’Brien will also be forced to build the team with 10 initial scholarships and 20 total scholarships cut from the schools funding over the next four-year period.

Bill O’Brien took over the Penn State Nittany Lions after five years as the assistant coach for the NFL’s New England Patriots, including this past season when he served as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator.