How big of a bonus Josh Heupel, Rick Barnes, Kellie Harper got for Tennessee athletes' academic success
Tennessee coaches and athletics director Danny White earned almost $300,000 in bonuses because athletes hit high academic standards.
Men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes led the group with a $100,000 bonus for his team’s perfect score in the NCAA’s newly-published Academic Progress Rate for 2021-22.
Football coach Josh Heupel, women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper and baseball coach Tony Vitello also earned bonuses based on their team’s APR scores.
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APR measures each sports team’s eligibility and retention rates of athletes for each academic year. The highest score is 1,000, and teams must have a four-year average of at least 930 to compete in NCAA championships.
Tennessee’s department-wide APR score was 987 as a four-year average for all athletes in its 18 sports, according to the university’s calculation. The NCAA releases scores only by team sport rather than an institution overall.
Tennessee's score exceeded the average of 984 for all Division I schools.
That earned White a $94,500 bonus, which was 5% of his annual salary at the time APR data for 2021-22 was reported to the NCAA.
Notably, White’s incentive compensation is capped at $300,000 annually, and he reached that mark in 2021-22. Other bonuses were earned based on athletic performance, team championships and postseason appearances by Tennessee teams.
Here's the bonus amounts for each coach
Contract terms for APR bonuses differ between Tennessee coaches.
Barnes gets a $100,000 bonus because either his team’s single-year APR or multi-year average was at least 980. The Tennessee basketball team scored 1,000 in both categories. The multi-year average for all Division I basketball teams was 967.
Heupel gets a $50,000 bonus because either his team’s single-year APR or multi-year average was at least 945. The Tennessee football team had a 946 multi-year average and a 968 single-year score. The multi-year average for all Division I football teams was 962.
Player retention is part of the APR formula, which dragged down Tennessee football's multi-year average. There was a mass exodus of players from the program after coach Jeremy Pruitt was fired for cause in January 2021 amid an NCAA investigation into alleged recruiting violations.
In that 2020-21 academic year, football had a single-year APR score of 944. Aside from that year, the team had comparable APR scores under both coaches. Under Pruitt, it scored 963 in 2018-19 and 965 in 2019-20. Under Heupel, it scored 968 in 2021-22.
Harper gets a $25,000 bonus because her Lady Vols’ single-year APR score of 1,000 exceeded the national average multi-year APR score of all women’s basketball teams, which was 982.
Tennessee baseball scored 980, the highest single-year mark of Vitello's tenure. He gets a $15,000 bonus because his team’s single-year APR score was between 960 and 980. If it had scored above 980, Vitello would’ve instead gotten $25,000. The multi-year average for all Division I baseball teams was 977.
Prioritizing academics, including elements that impact APR, is listed among duties in all Tennessee head coaches’ contracts. But no coaches other than Heupel, Barnes, Harper and Vitello are eligible for bonuses based on APR scores, according to their contract terms.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. Twitter @AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel salary: Tennessee football bonus for Vols academic success
