Durkin contract: 5 yrs, $12.5MM with one-time rollover of $2.65MM

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

Good for DJ. That's an amount of money that no sane person would turn down.

I'll be surprised if he can manage to win there, but it doesn't really matter when you're guaranteed to make so much that you can retire at the end of your deal (or when you're bought out after being fired).

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Stringer Bell

December 3rd, 2015 at 2:52 PM ^

No one's pissed he's leaving (at least I'm not). It's how he went about it. Questions about how much focus he put into the tOSU game are fair, and questions about whether he tried to undermine his previous employer by poaching members of the coaching staff are also fair. He could've left without being a dick about it.

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Stringer Bell

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^

I'd be more understanding of it if Durkin had been here for a few years. Obviously then he'd have good chemistry with the coaches on staff and it'd be warranted for him to ask them to join him. Him being here for 1 year suggests that he simply used Michigan as a stepping stone, which is fine but 1 year doesn't earn you the kind of goodwill to start taking key members of the Michigan coaching staff. This is a completely new staff and I'm guessing the last thing Harbaugh wanted to do was have to reload half his staff this offseason.

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oriental andrew

December 3rd, 2015 at 4:07 PM ^

You expected something different? He's been a high profile DC for a few years now, had great success in the job, and is clearly ambitious and gunning for a HC job. 

A Power 5 job landed in his lap. It was not a question of if he would leave, but when he would leave. To be 37 and be offered to keys to a P5 head coaching gig is a pretty great opportunity and I can't begrudge him taking it. 

 

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Stringer Bell

December 3rd, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^

I dunno. The reports of him turning down a good job like the Texas A&M DC spot while he waited for Michigan to hire Harbaugh suggested to me that he wanted to be here more than 1 year. Of course I expected him to leave at some point, definitely within a few years, but not right away. I guess no one could anticipate the large number of job openings there would be this year. But yeah, I don't like the idea of a guy coming to Michigan for 1 year and then poaching some of our coaches on his way out. He didn't contribute enough to the program IMO and this is a completely new staff that Harbaugh had to put together in a short amount of time last offseason. I'm not sure he'd want to replenish it again a year later.

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LJ

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^

There's really no evidence he was a dick about it.  Not a shred of evidence that Harbaugh objected in the slightest to when/how he interviewed (which we also have no facts about).  No indication that his "poaching" was anything more than offering a coaching spot to a guy who seems to want one (and will probably now get one at U of M).

It'd be one thing if people were saying "I remain uncertain of whether he handled this properly.  Hopefully we'll find out eventually."  Instead, it's been a whole lot of "Screw you, traitor." 

Joined: 07/05/2008

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LJ

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:17 PM ^

Well, when people say what I think are stupid/unfair hot takes, I'm going to criticize them.  That criticism and fairness is what has made this board better than many others.

Also, please don't send any muscle at me.  I'm not in the game.

Joined: 07/05/2008

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You Only Live Twice

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:18 PM ^

The "traitor" sentiment has nothing to do with him leaving for a better job.  It's not even about him trying to take someone with him (and evidently that didn't pan out).  It has everything to do with declining performance of his LB unit.  People have a right to be, ahem, annoyed at how the OSU game went down.   There is a perception, which I definitely share, that his job search and interview process was a factor in his game prep. 

If he isn't loyal to the program and coach that hired him, it's much better that he did leave.  Thinking he didn't just start entertaining offers the week before OSU.  Which is why I'm not among the well-wishers.  Arguably he wasn't doing the job he was hired to do. 

 

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MGOMD

December 3rd, 2015 at 4:53 PM ^

You're not among the well wishers because this move has led to your first psychotic episode. It's truly amazing to watch and be a part of. You have written an entire story in your head about what happened, based on zero percent factual information, and you ultimately think a guy should stay at Michigan for a 66% pay cut because it's Michigan. Have you slept?

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The Mad Hatter

December 3rd, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^

about the way he left (OSU bedshitting in particular), but DJ and I are about the same age, and there is no way in hell I would turn down that kind of money.  Even if it was going to kill the rest of my career.  Retiring @ 43 with $10 million in the bank sounds pretty damn good to me. 

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UMfan21

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^

Totally agreed.  Realistically, even if he bombs at Maryland, he should still be able to go back as a coordinator somewhere making a few hundred thousand per year and work his way back up.  He's young.  People fail.  Colleges will understand the situation he was in at Maryland.

 

Cam Cameron might be a good example.  Bombed at IU, but still had a pretty successful coaching career after.

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oriental andrew

December 3rd, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^

You don't even have to live all that modestly with $10mm in the bank. At a conservative 1.5% annual rate of return, you're grossing $150k/year just in the interest. That's enough to live very comfortably. Even throwing in a middling DC job at $150k/yr gives you a gross income of $300k. That's a LOT of money. 

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michgoblue

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^

It sounds like a lot. But let's dig deeper:

12.5 salary, but 10% goes to his agent, so that's 1.25 million gone.
Also, Maryland is a high tax area, so almost 50% will go to taxes (max federal bracket of just under 40%, state of another 7, and then add in FIFA, and assorted other local taxes and fees). That's 6.25 million.

So, of his 12.5 million, he is left with $5 million over 5 years. Obviously, that is a lot of $$, but in a high cost of living area, if you live nicely (but not over the top) it is not retire at 42 and live on the interest $$, especially if you have a few kids.

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The Mad Hatter

December 3rd, 2015 at 3:24 PM ^

that he's starting from zero.  He's been making a high six-figure salary for at least a few years already, so he should already have substantial assets and/or savings.

Either way, with $5 million or $10 million in the bank, I'd sleep a lot better at night than I do now.

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