Kansas Jayhawks extend contract of women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider
The Big 12 women’s basketball coach of the year has been awarded a new contract.
Kansas Athletics announced Wednesday that Brandon Schneider had agreed to a new four-year deal that runs through the 2025-26 season. Schneider’s contract will pay him a $540,000 annually over that term, which consists of a $400,000 base salary and $140,000 professional services payment.
In his seventh season at KU, Schneider has led the Jayhawks to a 20-8 record, which includes an 11-7 mark in Big 12 play.
“Brandon has worked tirelessly to get this program back to where it should be — competing at the highest level of the Big 12 with an opportunity to make a statement deep into March,” KU athletic director Travis Goff said in a release.
KU, picked last in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, is set to reach its first NCAA Tournament since 2013. The latest ESPN Bracketology has the Jayhawks listed as a 9 seed.
The program has reached a few milestones already. KU’s 20 regular-season wins are the most in the program since 2000, while the Jayhawks also posted a better-than-.500 conference record for the first time in 22 seasons.
“It has been a process getting to the point where we are, but building things the right way doesn’t always happen as quickly as you would like,” Schneider said in a release. “We tried to stay the course and stay true to the values and pillars of our program, knowing that one day we would build something that could be very sustainable. We want Kansas women’s basketball to be a program that this university and this community can be proud of for a very long time.”
Schneider earned two national coach of the week awards in 2022, with WhoopDirt.com honoring him on Feb. 15 and ESPN doing so on Feb. 21. He also picked up the league’s coach of the year distinction Monday.
His new pact includes incentives for certain accomplishments, from $25,000 for any Big 12 Tournament championship to $200,000 for a national championship.
If fired without cause, Schneider will receive $810,000 if that’s done in the next year, $540,000 if it happens in Year 2 and half of his remaining compensation in the deal if that takes place in Years 3 or 4. Likewise, if Schneider breaks his KU contract before the term ends for another basketball coaching position, he will owe KU $810,000 in Years 1 or 2, $540,000 in Year 3 and $540,000 or the remaining total on his contract — whichever is less — in Year 4.
Fifth-seeded KU opens the Big 12 Tournament at 11 a.m. Friday against No. 4 seed Oklahoma in the quarterfinals at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 10:42 AM.
