Penn State Football Coach Bill O’Brien’s Contract Adjusted After Sanctions, Report Says

Bill O’Brien’s contract changed the second the NCAA handed down its sanctions Monday.

The Centre Daily Times reported the contract addendum results in an automatic four-year extension, or the length of the postseason bowl ban and scholarship reduction the NCAA slapped Penn State with two days ago.

The newspaper reported the agreement was consummated in January when O’Brien was hired. It was put into his contract as a direct result of the possibility of NCAA sanctions.

O’Brien signed a five-year contract worth about $2.3 million a year — a $950,000 base salary, $1 million from radio/TV, $350,000 from Nike — plus a maximum of $200,000 in incentives. Starting July 1, 2013, and each successive year of employment that follows, O’Brien will receive base salary increases of 5 percent.

The extension puts him under contract through the 2020 season.

It’s unclear if the addendum has any impact on a potential exit strategy. Under the old agreement, if O’Brien resigned before his contract expired, he would needed to have paid the amount of his base salary and additional compensation multiplied by the number years of remaining on his contract.