What did we learn after reviewing each of Kentucky’s head coaching contracts?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mark Stoops, Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks have the top UK coaching salaries for 2025-26.
- All but one Kentucky varsity head coach will make a six-figure salary in the 2025-26 year.
- All 17 UK varsity sports head coaches from 2024-25 year will return for 2025-26 season.
With another Kentucky athletics season already underway, each of UK’s 17 varsity head coaches is in the thick of preparation for the 2025-26 year.
Troy Fabiano’s women’s soccer team is already off to a high-scoring start. Mark Stoops’ football program is less than two weeks away from its season opener. Big Blue Madness is now less than two months away as Kenny Brooks and Mark Pope look to build on successful debut seasons on the hardwood.
Earlier this week, the Herald-Leader published a detailed review of each contract for Kentucky’s 17 varsity head coaches.
What did we learn from this exercise?
Here’s what jumped off the page after taking a look at 350 pages of contract documents that spell out key terms between Kentucky and the school’s top athletic coaches.
The complete list of Kentucky athletic coaching contracts can be found here. UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart’s contract can be found here.
The use of “salary” below refers to a combination of money that is to be paid by Kentucky to the school’s varsity head coaches from base salary, UK’s multimedia rights and apparel agreements and retention bonuses for the 2025-26 year. This “salary” amount doesn’t factor in potential bonuses that could be triggered in each coach’s contract with UK.
Stoops, Pope and Brooks lead the way for UK coaching salaries
Earlier this summer, revenue sharing went into effect between schools and athletes. The exact breakdown of how much each Kentucky sport is getting from the overall $20.5 million that can be dispersed to athletes remains unknown.
After the House settlement was approved to pave the way for revenue sharing to begin, common thought was that athletic departments in the Power Four conferences, such as Kentucky, would distribute around 75% of available money to football, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball and 5% to other sports. This was based on the formula that was used in the House settlement to determine how $2.8 billion of backpay in damages would be paid to athletes who competed since 2016.
Even without knowing the specifics of how UK is set to divide its revenue sharing amount for the 2025-26 year, it’s clear that those three sports — football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball — operate at the top of the UK athletics food chain. Mark Stoops (football), Mark Pope (men’s basketball) and Kenny Brooks (women’s basketball) are set to have the three highest salaries among Kentucky coaches this year.
Stoops will be paid $9 million. Pope is set to make $5.25 million. Brooks will receive $1.4 million.
Only one other UK coach is set to clear the $1 million mark in salary for 2025-26. That’s baseball coach Nick Mingione, who will earn $1.275 million.
Stoops’ department-leading salary comes as his football team is the subject of much consternation from the UK fanbase. The Wildcats went 4-8 on the gridiron last year and had a streak of qualifying for eight straight bowl games come to an end.
Pope and Brooks each received positive reviews for their first seasons leading UK’s basketball programs. The UK men went 24-12 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. The UK women went 23-8 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament while hosting national postseason games inside Memorial Coliseum.
Mingione has led Kentucky’s baseball team to an NCAA Tournament regional in three straight seasons for the first time. In 2024, Kentucky reached the College World Series for the first time in school history.
Most Kentucky coaches have a six-figure salary for 2025-26
After Mingione, there’s a relatively steep drop-off in Kentucky coaching salaries.
The fifth-highest paid coach at UK is volleyball’s Craig Skinner ($530,000), followed by cross country and track and field head coach Lonnie Greene ($500,000) and softball’s Rachel Lawson ($405,000).
The remaining Kentucky coaches will be paid the following amounts for the 2025-26 year: Cedric Kauffmann (men’s tennis, $308,000), Johan Cedergren (men’s soccer, $285,000), Tim Garrison (women’s gymnastics, $225,000), Gator Todd (men’s golf, $225,000), Troy Fabiano (women’s soccer, $215,000), Golda Borst (women’s golf, $205,000), Bret Lundgaard (men’s and women’s swimming and diving, $201,200), Harry Mullins (rifle, $160,000), Shelley Jaudon (women’s tennis, $155,000) and Blair Bergmann (STUNT, $90,000).
Bergmann is the only coach at Kentucky who makes less than $100,000 per year. He’s also the coach of Kentucky’s newest varsity sport: UK’s STUNT program began play in February 2022.
Only one UK coach is in a true contract year in 2025-26
Last year brought two new coaches into the fold at Kentucky when Brooks replaced Kyra Elzy as the women’s basketball coach and Pope replaced John Calipari as the men’s basketball coach.
There were no coaching shakeups this offseason in Lexington, though. All 17 of UK’s varsity head coaches for the 2025-26 year are the same ones who were in place for 2024-25. There’s a strong chance that this coaching continuity could remain.
Bergmann, UK’s STUNT coach, is the only Kentucky head coach whose contract with the school is set to expire next year. His deal runs through June 2026.
Garrison’s contract as the Kentucky gymnastics coach is set to run through June 2027. Those are the only two Kentucky head coaching deals that are set to expire in the next two years.
Two UK coaches — Lawson (softball) and Lundgaard (men’s and women’s swimming and diving) — have contracts that will expire in June 2028.
Eight Kentucky coaches are on contracts that run through June 2029: Borst (women’s golf), Cedergren (men’s soccer), Fabiano (women’s soccer), Greene (cross country and track and field), Jaudon (women’s tennis), Kauffmann (men’s tennis), Skinner (volleyball) and Todd (men’s golf).
Brooks, the women’s basketball coach, has a contract that would end after March 2029.
Four UK coaches have deals that would take them into the 2030s in their current posts. Pope’s contract would keep him as the UK men’s basketball coach through March 2030. Both Mingione (baseball) and Mullins (rifle) have contracts that go through June 2030.
Then there’s Stoops, whose contract to coach the Kentucky football team goes through June 2031. For those curious, Stoops’ buyout figure following the 2025 UK football regular-season finale would be slightly less than $38 million.
Which Kentucky coaches have retention bonuses in their contracts?
Wouldn’t it be nice to get paid extra money simply for remaining employed at your current job?
Well, over the summer two Kentucky coaches benefitted from exactly this.
Greene, Kentucky’s cross country and track and field coach, earned a $75,000 payment from the school because he was still UK’s coach at the start of August.
Lawson, the UK softball coach, earned a payment of $100,000 from Kentucky because she was still in her post at the start of August.
Both Greene and Lawson also have retention bonuses spelled out in their contracts for future years.
Greene is set to receive payments from UK if he remains in his current post on Aug. 1, 2026, ($75,000), Aug. 1, 2027, ($100,000), Aug. 1, 2028, ($100,000) and June 30, 2029, ($100,000).
For Lawson, future payments would be triggered on Aug. 1, 2026, ($100,000) and Aug. 1, 2027, ($100,000).
Some UK coaches have a contract clause relating to Mitch Barnhart
Of Kentucky’s 17 coaches, only five of them could owe Kentucky money for leaving the school during the life of their contract: Brooks (women’s basketball), Greene (cross country and track and field), Mingione (baseball), Pope (men’s basketball) and Stoops (football).
Three of those coaches — Brooks, Mingione and Pope — would owe Kentucky less money for breaking their contracts if Barnhart isn’t Kentucky’s athletics director and they choose to leave UK during their deals.
Barnhart’s contract with UK runs through June 2028, but there’s a clause in his contract with the school that would allow him to move into a “special assistant to the president” role starting in July 2026.
Sometime during the 2025-26 year, Barnhart will become the longest-tenured athletics director at a Power Four conference school. Barnhart will assume this title when Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione retires from full-time athletic director duties.
Barnhart is in his 24th year as the Kentucky athletics director. Castiglione is in his 28th year.
