California Golden Bears head coach Justin Wilcox Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Wilcox Earns Bonus for Cal Team's Academic Achievement

Originally posted on Cal Bears on SI | Last updated Jun 6, 2024 2:41 PM ET

You know the old adage: College football coaches are paid to win games. And that is certainly true for all coaches, including Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, who receives bonus payments if the Golden Bears win six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 or 12 games in a season. But Wilcox, like many coaches, also gets a cash bonus if his team exceeds certain academic standards.

Steve Berkowitz, USA Today’s sports projects editor, reported this week that Wilcox earned a $75,000 bonus because the football team had an Academic Progress Report (APR) score that was better than 970. (Cal's score was 976.) Wilcox could have earned a bonus of up to $150,000 if the team had recorded a perfect APR score of 1,000, but that would be asking a lot.

Cal football coach Justin Wilcox will get $75,000 bonus based on team's newly published multi-year NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) score. He gets this amount if score is 970 to 979 (out of 1000). It is 976.
— Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) June 4, 2024

There was no indication whether Wilcox also earned a bonus for a grade-point average achieved by the team. He would get $30,000 in bonus cash if the Bears had a grade-point average of 2.70 or better, and that would increase by steps until he received $60,000 for a team GPA of 3.00 or better.

The big bonuses are reserved for on-field accomplishments.

Wilcox is scheduled to earn about $5.2 million in 2027, the final year of the extension that went into effect in January 2022, after he turned down an offer to become Oregon’s head coach. In addition, he gets a bonus of $25,000 if the team wins six games in a season, and that increases for each additional win until he receives $500,000 if the team wins 12 games in a season. That would probably put Cal into the national championship playoff, and Wilcox gets an additional $100,000 if the Bears play in a national championship game.

That ambitious goal starts this coming fall when the Bears begin play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This article first appeared on Cal Bears on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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