UCLA women's basketball coach Cori Close is likely to receive a salary raise after leading her team to its first NCAA title. Close currently earns $1.2 million, and the Regents will discuss her contract compensation parameters soon.
Key points
Cori Close received a standing ovation from the Regents
She led UCLA to its first NCAA title
Current salary is $1.2 million
Base salary was $877,500 with bonuses
Regents will discuss her contract compensation soon
Mentioned in this story
Cori CloseUCLA
NCAA
UCLA womenâs basketball coach Cori Close received a standing ovation from Regents; a raise is next.
Coach Closeâs $1.2M salary is a bargain after leading UCLA to its first NCAA title.
Close signed a four-year deal last May for $877,500 base, earning $180,000 in bonuses.
Cori Close received a standing ovation Tuesday from the University of Californiaâs Board of Regents.
Next up could be a well-deserved raise for the UCLA womenâs basketball coach who just guided her team to a national championship.
The Regents are scheduled to discuss Closeâs âcontract compensation parametersâ in a closed session on Wednesday afternoon at the Luskin Conference Center on the UCLA campus. Those discussions are necessary to grant any coach within the UC system a significant hike in their salary.
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Next up could be a well-deserved raise for the UCLA womenâs basketball coach who just guided her team to a national championship. Getty Images
Next up could be a well-deserved raise for the UCLA womenâs basketball coach who just guided her team to a national championship. Getty Images
Not counting the performance bonuses she earned when her team won the title, Close made $1.2 million last season â just a fraction of her counterparts in the Final Four.
Texas coach Vic Schaefer reportedly made $2.3 million, UConnâs Geno Auriemma made more than $3.5 million and South Carolinaâs Dawn Staley made more than $4 million â the highest salary of any womenâs college coach in the country.
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Auriemma has won a record 12 national titles and Staley has won three titles while also appearing in five other Final Fours. Schaefer has taken the Longhorns to the last two Final Fours after making one previous appearance at Mississippi State.
But Close, 54, has now also entered elite territory in her profession after 15 seasons at UCLA. Sheâs taken the Bruins to back-to-back Final Fours and just won the programâs first NCAA championship, beating Schaeferâs Longhorns and Staleyâs Gamecocks along the way.
Not counting the performance bonuses she earned when her team won the title, Close made $1.2 million last season â just a fraction of her counterparts in the Final Four. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Not counting the performance bonuses she earned when her team won the title, Close made $1.2 million last season â just a fraction of her counterparts in the Final Four. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
But Close, 54, has now also entered elite territory in her profession after 15 seasons at UCLA. Getty Images
But Close, 54, has now also entered elite territory in her profession after 15 seasons at UCLA. Getty Images
UCLA finished the season with a 37-1 record that established school records for wins and longest winning streak after the Bruins won their final 31 games.
âIâm proud of what coach Close has done in leading our young women,â UCLA athletic Martin Jarmond told the California Post on Tuesday. âObviously, winning a national championship is significant, but the character and the way that she and her staff develop young women to be the best version of themselves is something that weâre all proud of, so weâre very fortunate to have her as the leader of our program and very excited for the future of our program.â
Close signed her latest contract extension last May, not long after reaching her first Final Four. The four-year deal that runs through the 2028-29 season, obtained by the California Post through a public-records request, called for her to make the same amount each year in combined base salary and talent fee â $877,500 â plus varying hiring and retention bonuses.
When it came to performance bonuses this season, Close went an incredible 11 for 11.
Those bonuses added up to $180,000 after the Bruins walloped South Carolina, 79-51, in the national championship game.
As Close prepared to speak on Tuesday to the Regents â including Bob Myers, the former Golden State Warriors general manager and member of the 1995 UCLA menâs title team â they put on championship hats to commemorate the achievement as part of celebratory remarks inside the Luskin Center.
UCLA finished the season with a 37-1 record that established school records for wins and longest winning streak after the Bruins won their final 31 games. Getty Images
UCLA finished the season with a 37-1 record that established school records for wins and longest winning streak after the Bruins won their final 31 games. Getty Images
UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk called the Bruinsâ championship one of the most incredible moments of his life.
âThey really uplifted the spirit of the entire community and we couldnât be more grateful or proud for all that you have accomplished,â Frenk said, addressing Close. âYou are a fantastic leader ⊠and you represent the best of the human spirit.â
Relaying a saying often expressed by Pam Walker, her teamâs director of operations, Close told the Regents that her playersâ character and values superseded their excellence on the court.
âThe least impressive thing they did was actually win basketball games,â Close said, âbecause without the substances of the other part, itâs really just putting an orange thing in an orange thing when we really strip it all away. What I love is that they really were committed to growing as people first, students second and actually basketball third.â
Close said she was more proud of her six players selected in the recent WNBA draft having graduated â with three also attaining masterâs degrees â than their having set the record for most players drafted from one college team.
When she finished speaking, Close was serenaded with applause. There could be more tokens of gratitude to come.