The school provided the contract to USA TODAY Sports on Friday, Oct. 10, one day after USA TODAY Sports reported on Smith’s employment status.
The contract — which all parties signed in the past 24 hours, per university spokesperson Daniel Pittman — shows Smith will make $850,000 from Ohio this season, including a $50,000 retention payment he would receive if he remains the Bobcats’ coach on Dec. 31, 2025, the final day of the parties’ contract year.
His base salary is $615,000, although he “may receive an annual increase … in accordance with University raise pool guidelines.” He is getting $135,000 in “supplemental compensation,” as consideration for “increased duties, including, but not limited to, external promotion, marketing, development, and communications”. He also can annually receive a $50,000 retention payment for being the school’s head coach as of June 30.
Smith began the season with the possibility of getting a maximum of $660,750 in performance-incentive bonuses, according to the contract. He already has secured a $15,000 bonus, as he can get that amount if the team wins a regular season game against a Power Four conference opponent. The Bobcats defeated West Virginia, 17-10, on Sept. 6 in Athens, Ohio. They also lost at Rutgers, 34-31, and lost at Ohio State, 37-9.
According to documents and correspondence USA TODAY Sports previously had received from the school, Smith’s compensation was to have an average annual value of $850,000 per year from Dec. 17, 2024, through Dec. 31, 2029. Those documents did not say what Smith was to be paid for this, or any other year of his employment. In addition, they said Smith will have performance incentives, but they “will be negotiated between the parties, the terms of which will be comparable with other Mid-American Conference institutions.”
Smith’s bonus maximum for this season ranks sixth among the 12 MAC coaches for whom USA Today Sports could determine that amount as part of its annual survey of major-college football head coaches’ pay.
As of Dec. 1, 2025, if Ohio fires Smith without cause, it would owe him $2,511,250 — that’s 100% of the base salary remaining on the contract. He would owe (or would to cause a third party to pay) the same amount if he leaves on Dec. 1, 2025.
Central Michigan, another MAC school is still working with coach Matt Drinkall under a “letter of agreement” that leaves details about incentives and an annual retention bonus undetermined. But the letter of agreement states it is “a fully binding contract, and shall remain valid, enforceable, and fully binding until the Long Form Agreement is fully executed by both parties.”
