The new 5-year deal starts this season and will pay Brian Dutcher $2.3 million — up nearly $1 million from his previous contract
Eleven months after leading San Diego State to the national championship game for the first time in school and conference history, men’s basketball coach Brian Dutcher received the big-money contract many expected — making him the highest-paid employee in the California State University system and, thanks to an eight-figure buyout, deterring power conference programs from poaching him.
Dutcher was not scheduled to be the highest-paid coach in the Mountain West next season. He will be now, by a lot. The fully guaranteed five-year deal will pay him $2.3 million retroactively for this season, up from $1.4 million and the $1.47 million due in 2024-25, the final year of his previous contract. Nevada’s Steve Alford, the next-highest-paid Mountain West coach, will make $1.55 million in 2024-25. Dutcher’s contract comes with $100,000 annual raises up to $2.7 million in 2027-28, its final year. The buyout also spikes considerably, from $3 million under the old deal to $10.2 million now. 'I’m very appreciative that President de la Torre and John David Wicker have allowed me to continue to coach at a place I love and have spent the past 25 years,' Dutcher said. 'Along with my assistant coaches and friend Steve Fisher, we have built a high-major basketball program at San Diego State. 'I never got into coaching for the money and was an assistant coach until I was 58 years old. I’m grateful for every day I can mentor such outstanding young men.' Nationally, however, Dutcher remains a relative bargain, not cracking the top 50 of USA Today’s 2023 list of college basketball coaching salaries. His $2.3 million next season would rank 54th nationally, just behind the $2.4 million of Mississippi State’s Chris Jans; Kentucky’s John Calipari topped the 2023 list at $8.5 million. Arizona recently signed coach Tommy Lloyd to a five-year extension worth $6 million in the final season. UCLA’s Mick Cronin , Oregon’s Dana Altman , USC’s Andy Enfield , Washington’s Mike Hopkins , Oregon State’s Wayne Tinkle and Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley still make more than Dutcher among West Coast schools. 'We are definitely getting a very economical deal,' Wicker said. 'We’re very appreciative Brian was willing to work with us on that because I’m sure he could go other places and make significantly more money.' Dutcher's buyout lowers each year, but it’s still $7.8 million next season, $5.3 million in 2025-26 and $2.7 million in 2026-27 — in line with what’s guaranteed if Dutcher were fired without cause. That also explains why Wicker locked down Dutcher before the end of the regular season, not wanting to risk programs pursuing him under the lower salary — and buyout — of the previous deal. And there already was interest. Sources inside and outside the athletic department told the Union-Tribune that Ohio State, which parted ways with head coach Chris Holtman and his $3.5 million annual salary last month, inquired about Dutcher’s availability. So did West Virginia, where Josh Eilert is 9-20 as interim head coach. Michigan, where Dutcher was an assistant on the 1989 team that won the national title and later recruited the Fab Five, might open as well. His last contract had a clause that lowered the buyout to $1 million only for Minnesota, his alma mater. That was removed from this addendum, meaning the new eight-figure buyout applies to everyone. Translation: He’s probably not going anywhere. 'I learned from Steve Fisher a long time ago: He was never a job-chaser, and neither am I,' Dutcher said. 'I love San Diego. Both my girls went to San Diego State. They both live here. I have a granddaughter here. This is home now.' Added Wicker: 'It was important that we finalized it at this point, and as you get into the coaching carousel there would probably be opportunities out there and there still may be opportunities. To get it done now, Brian has this off his plate as we concentrate on one last home game, the conference tournament and the NCAAs.' Wicker and Brian Elfus, Dutcher’s agent whose client list includes coaches and front-office personnel across college basketball and the NBA, have been working on a new deal since last spring, when the Aztecs’ magical run through the NCAA Tournament ended in the championship game at Houston’s NRG Stadium. SDSU previously had never been past the Sweet 16. Wicker said last fall that he hoped to have something signed by the end of the regular season, and he did. The three-page addendum that changes the terms of Dutcher’s last deal is dated Feb. 19. The salary and buyout increased, but many of the performance incentives decreased. Dutcher received $305,000 in bonuses from last year’s historic season on top of his $1.4 million salary. He got $50,000 for winning a Mountain West title . That has been reduced to $25,000 in the new contract. The NCAA Tournament bonuses stay the same — $25,000 for an appearance, $10,000 for each win, $75,000 for the Final Four, $100,000 for reaching the championship game — but NIT bonuses are smaller and he no longer gets $15,000 for being named Mountain West Coach of the Year. Other bonus tweaks came in the final Associated Press ranking and the team’s academic performance. The contract will be paid by what Wicker calls athletic department 'operational funds.' Dutcher passes Fresno State football coach Jeff Tedford as the CSU system’s highest paid employee and the first to top $2 million in annual salary. It comes at a time of a looming state budget deficit that could trickle down to CSU campuses. 'It’s revenue that’s been generated by the basketball program — ticket sales, donors, money from TV,' Wicker said. 'Then you look at the value to the overall institution and the CSU system. Just the month of March and April last year was worth $402 million in brand enhancement. 'You look at some of the metrics we collected, at the number of new people who visited the website, the number of articles that were written about San Diego State. It was a tremendous impact to our institution and the CSU system as a whole. When you look at that value, we’re getting a very good deal.' Dutcher will be 68 at the end of this contract. He was asked if it might be his last. 'I don’t know,' he said. 'I’ll coach as long as I feel good and feel like I’m productive and good at what I do. Having been a head coach for only seven years, I feel like I have a lot in me. If I was a head coach for 30 years, maybe I’d feel worn down, but I feel like I’m still doing a good job and working at a pretty high level and surrounding myself with a lot of good people. 'I’m working hard still. I don’t golf. I don’t do anything else. This is my passion.'
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