The FAU Owls needed to get back to winning ways, so Willie Taggart’s 15-18 record wasn’t going to cut it. They chose Tom Herman, a coach with head coaching experience at multiple schools, to take over the program for the 2023 season.
Herman brought a 54-22 record from his time with the Houston Cougars and Texas Longhorns, and the Owls hoped he could get them back to the Lane Kiffin days. What is Herman’s salary, contract, and net worth as the FAU coach?
Tom Herman’s Salary and Contract in 2024
The FAU head coach signed a five-year contract with a base salary of $750,000, including annual incremental increases. For the 2024 college football campaign, Herman’s salary will be $1 million. He’ll earn $1.25 million in 2025, $1.35 million in 2026, and in the final year of the contract, he’ll earn $1.5 million.
Herman hadn’t been a head coach since the 2020 season when Texas fired him. He spent time as an analyst for the Chicago Bears in 2021, but made his return to college football when the Owls hired him after the 2022 season.
With FAU headed to the American Athletic Conference, the Owls needed a coach who had experience and could recruit the area well. Herman recruited well at his previous stops, and the administration believed he could do it again in Florida.
If FAU terminates his contract, he will be paid a lump sum of 20 weeks of his annual salary or the remainder of the contract, depending on which number is lower. Herman also must pay various amounts back to FAU should he take another job ranging from $500,000 to $2.5 million.
To aid Herman’s efforts, FAU pledged a guaranteed $2.5 million for his assistant coach pool. When Lane Kiffin was at FAU, he was given a staff pool of $2.15 million.
Herman’s Net Worth
Herman is not hurting for money, thanks to his previous stops. Texas paid a $15.4 million buyout when they fired him in 2020, and he’s had multiple other stops as a head coach and offensive coordinator that paid him well.
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Under his current contract with FAU, he gets bonuses for certain on-field achievements. Postseason success will be financially beneficial for Herman, as his potential bonuses have quite the range of dollar amounts:
- Conference Championship Game appearance: $20,000
- Conference Championship Game win: $40,000
- Bowl game appearance: $30,000
- New Year’s Six Bowl game appearance: $100,000
- College Football Playoff appearance: $100,000
- National Championship Game appearance: $250,000
- National Championship Game win: $500,000
- Top 25 finish: $50,000
- Top 10 finish: $100,000
With the expanded College Football Playoff in 2024, Herman could bring in plenty of extra money. If he can get FAU on the same track as his former Houston teams, anything is possible.
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