Who is gonna go after UAB's Bill Clark?

UNC this year or Ole Miss next year (after 2019). Coaches like him need to build steam in the coaching recruitment circles (like Herman and Frost did previously). He will be a great coach in the correct circumstances, but he needs to choose wisely. Fedora did some great things at USM. He ran with the first Power 5 offer he received (UNC) and has to be regretting it now. Clark should take a page out of that playbook and not repeat. He needs to choose wisely.

I’d kill to have him at Ole Miss but I’m not sure if he’d be willing to leave Alabama. I want to say that I read somewhere that Clark didn’t want to leave Alabama because of his state pension.

He's waiting on Bama job when Saban bolts for Packers

He’s a great coach but he’s not ready for the SEC. He will upgrade to a mid major or if lucky he lands somewhere like Iowa State or Cincinnati after the carousel stops turning. Two or three good years in a place like that and he might get a crack at somewhere like Ole Miss or Miss State. UNC would be a stretch but possible.

He is like 1 or 2 years away from reaching the pension. No way he leaves before then.

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Clark didn’t want to leave Alabama because of his state pension.

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That can't be more than the millions he could make in the SEC. Or am I being obtuse about that?


ETA Just talked to someone who said he's already reached his pension.

The dude is going to make 60% of his highest state funded salary for the rest of his life. That will be more than 4 or 5 million.

He’s looking at a minimum of $250k a year in retirement plus medical benefits.

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The dude is going to make 60% of his highest state funded salary for the rest of his life. That will be more than 4 or 5 million.

He’s looking at a minimum of $250k a year in retirement plus medical benefits.

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If he has not met his time requirements in the state system, and he fails at the top level, he can get a job back in Alabama after he fails and then fulfill the time requirements-and receive his 60% at his old UAB coaching level-or whatever his new job may pay, which may be higher.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna keep working for the state instead of taking a job that will pay me 100x what I'm making working for the state because I want that state retirement, which I can probably get later, anyway. And guess what? If my coaching abilities tank next year before I can take a power 5 job, and I lose all prospect of coaching at the power 5 level, I still got that sweet state retirement."

Strike while the iron's hot.

I was all in on Clark when he called y’all UA-Tuscaloosa

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That can't be more than the millions he could make in the SEC. Or am I being obtuse about that?

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After three years of his new contract at UAB, his pension will jump by several hundred thousand dollars per year.

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ETA Just talked to someone who said he's already reached his pension.

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This is his 28th year in the system, yes, but the multiple will be based on his highest 3 years salary in the past five. The difference is huge. He might be looking at a $100k pension right now, but WELL over $500k by 2021.

For perspective, this year and the next two, he will make at least 25% more in salary and incentives than Jay Jacobs did his last few years. Jacobs retired making $540k per year from his pension. That could conceivably put Clark in the $650k (or more) per year range.

Both Clark and Jacobs were hired before the 1996 law that caps state pensions at $270k, and are grandfathered in to the uncapped pension.

I'm sure Clark would leave if it were a $3.5 mil at Ole Miss like DSJ says, but I'm not sure OM would pay that to a guy from Conference USA.