Contract details, salary information for new basketball head coaches at Morehead St., WKU

All three of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs from Kentucky that made the NCAA Tournament this season will have new coaches next season.

UK is still sorting out its coaching situation as John Calipari nears a seismic coaching move to Arkansas. But the commonwealth’s other two March Madness teams from last season — Morehead State and Western Kentucky — have already made their new coaching hires.

Morehead State moved swiftly in its coaching search: Former assistant coach Jonathan Mattox is returning to Rowan County to replace Preston Spradlin, a young Kentucky coaching star who is now at James Madison after leading the Eagles through a golden age of success.

WKU also acted fast to replace Steve Lutz — who was only the head coach in Bowling Green for one season before leaving for Oklahoma State — with assistant coach Hank Plona.

The Herald-Leader obtained contract details for both Mattox at Morehead State and Plona at WKU via the Kentucky Open Records Act.

Here are the key details from each coach’s contract with their respective school.

Jonathan Mattox coaching contract details at Morehead State

Mattox — a former assistant coach who previously spent nine seasons on the Morehead State staff, eventually working his way up to associate head coach — will have his contract at Morehead State begin April 16 and run until June 30, 2027. This will span the next three seasons.

Mattox, who served as an assistant coach at Murray State the past two seasons, will receive $235,000 each year from Morehead State. From that total, $215,000 will be his annual salary, and $20,000 will come from his participation in Morehead State’s media rights agreements.

Mattox will also get a $6,000 stipend each year from the school, in lieu of the school providing him with a vehicle for personal and private use.

If Morehead State was to fire Mattox without cause — such as NCAA violations or some other act beyond wins and losses — the school would owe him the total remaining base salary in his contract. The school would pay Mattox this amount in equal monthly installments for the remainder of the contract term.

Several bonuses are also on the table for Mattox, who played college basketball at Division II Anderson (S.C.) and NAIA-level Emmanuel (Ga.).

He would earn a $15,000 bonus for winning an Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship and a $17,500 bonus for participating in the NCAA Tournament.

Each March Madness win would earn Mattox an extra $10,000.

Should Mattox (who is about to begin his first head coaching job) lead the Eagles to an appearance in the NIT, he would earn an $8,000 bonus. Each win in the NIT would earn Mattox an extra $2,000.

There are three different potential buyout amounts in Mattox’s contract, should he leave the school for another coaching job.

▪ If he were to leave Morehead State before April 1, 2025, the buyout would be $430,000.

▪ If he were to leave Morehead State between April 2, 2025, and April 1, 2026, the buyout would be $322,500.

▪ If he were to leave Morehead State after April 2, 2026, the buyout would be $215,000.

Mattox will be expected to keep recent winning ways going in Morehead.

No NCAA Division I men’s college basketball program in Kentucky has won as many games as Morehead State has over the last four seasons. Under Spradlin, the Eagles went 94-40 (70.2%) since the start of the 2020-21 season, with trips to the 2021 and 2024 NCAA Tournaments.

Morehead State won 26 games last season, a single-season program record.

According to Spradlin’s contract at Morehead State, he was paid $260,000 annually by the school as part of a deal that was reworked in 2023. His buyout at Morehead State was $275,000.

Hank Plona coaching contract details at Western Kentucky

Plona, a former standout junior college coach who was on Lutz’s WKU staff as an assistant coach last season, will receive a four-year contract from WKU.

According to a memorandum of understanding between Plona and WKU, the deal will include automatic one-year extensions each year so Plona is always coaching with a four-year contract.

Plona will be paid $500,000 annually.

Four cumulative bonuses are on the table for Plona — who previously won 86.5% of his games over eight seasons as the head coach at Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) — related to WKU’s on-court performance.

He would earn $150,000 for winning a Conference USA regular season championship, and an additional $150,000 if WKU appears in the NCAA Tournament.

Also on the table is a $50,000 bonus for being named the C-USA Coach of the Year. Plona will also receive 50% of WKU’s total ticket revenues that are in excess of $1 million.

Other cumulative bonuses on the table for Plona relate to academic performance. He would receive $50,000 for a single-year NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) score between 950 and 969, and a further $50,000 for a single-year APR score of 970 or higher.

If WKU was to fire Plona without cause — such as NCAA violations or some other act beyond wins and losses — the school would owe him the following amounts (to be paid over 12 months).

▪ $500,000 if Plona is fired without cause before May 1, 2025.

▪ $300,000 if Plona is fired without cause between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026.

▪ $250,000 if Plona is fired without cause on or after May 1, 2026.

These same amounts and dates also serve as the parameters for potential buyout amounts for Plona to leave WKU.

Lutz was paid $650,000 annually at WKU and this past season he triggered a $100,000 bonus for getting Western Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament. According to Lutz’s contract, his buyout to leave Western Kentucky was $2 million.

Several coaching changes among Kentucky basketball programs

Mattox and Plona are both part of a larger trend of coaching changes among the commonwealth’s NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs.

Of those eight programs, only Bellarmine (Scott Davenport), Eastern Kentucky (A.W. Hamilton), Murray State (Steve Prohm) and Northern Kentucky (Darrin Horn) are set to return their head coaches from last season.

Mattox will replace Spradlin at Morehead State and Plona will replace Lutz at Western Kentucky. Both of their predecessors left for other coaching jobs.

Louisville fired former head coach Kenny Payne after two awful seasons and hired Pat Kelsey, formerly the head coach at Charleston.

Kentucky is tasked with replacing Calipari, who won a national championship and reached four Final Fours in 15 seasons as the UK head coach.

On the women’s side, UK fired former head coach Kyra Elzy and replaced her with former Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks.

Northern Kentucky moved on from former head coach Camryn Volz, who was the subject of a recent human resources investigation. NKU hasn’t yet named a new head coach.

The college basketball coaching carousel has been nuts. Here’s what you might have missed.

Kentucky coaching star Preston Spradlin leaves Morehead State for a top mid-major school

Former assistant coach returning to lead Morehead State men’s basketball program

Steve Lutz exits Western Kentucky for Oklahoma State after one season coaching Hilltoppers

Western Kentucky promotes assistant to become new head coach of men’s basketball program

Kentucky women’s basketball paying heavy financial price to part ways with Kyra Elzy

Breaking down Kenny Brooks’ Kentucky contract details. Here’s how much he’ll make.