Underwood Contract Analysis: A Financial Restructuring From Both Sides With A Lot of Incentives & a National No-Compete Clause
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood restructured his contract to give himself some long-term security and Illini officials got a national no-compete clause.
By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer
May 26, 2025
(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Brad Underwood’s new contract shows a fair amount of give-and-take negotiating action where the Illini head coach took a small haircut in salary leading to the potential of more long-term money.
Officials within the University of Illinois athletics (DIA), specifically Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman, was able to get his men’s basketball head coach to agree to a nationwide no-compete clause by giving Underwood a seven-figure signing bonus and the possibility of more automatic one-year extensions that would guarantee the Illini head coach stay in his current job until after the 2034-35 season.
Underwood’s base salary of $4.4 million will not change annually throughout the course of the new deal and therefore, the Illini head coach essentially took a $1.5 million total pay cut over the guaranteed six years ($27.9 million to $26.4 million) but that is before you add in an instant $1 million signing bonus, slight increase in Underwood's termination buyout and his annual incentive compensation for simply staying in the current job he has now, it's merely appears to be just a restructuring of money where DIA gets some cash back now to pay it back to Underwood with interest in the back portion incentives of the deal.
The deal was approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in its meeting in Urbana on May 22.
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