Fired football coach loses out on millions tied to oil prices

Head coach Rich Rodriguez of the Arizona Wildcats. Photo /Getty

University of Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez was less than three months from unlocking a US$3.24 million bonus - oddly, tied to the price of oil - when he was fired late Tuesday night by the school.

The university is buying out the remainder of Rodriguez's contract in the wake of sexual harassment allegations that, though unsubstantiated in an internal investigation, revealed concerns about the "direction and the climate" of the football program.

Rodriguez, 54, will receive US$6.28 million (N$Z8.8m) remaining on his deal, which was set to run through 2020, but he's missing out on a lot more.

His contract contained a longevity bonus linked to an oil company donation in 2014. A Wildcats booster gave the school 500,000 shares of a master limited partnership (MLP) that operates pipelines and other energy industry equipment.

The idea was simple. The school would keep the distributions the MLPs paid, and at specific times detailed in coaches' contracts, sell off the shares to pay longevity bonuses. The shares made their way into the contracts of Rodriguez, men's basketball coach Sean Miller and then-Athletic Director Greg Byrne.

Rodriguez received proceeds from the sale of a quarter of his shares on March 15, 2016. Had he remained at Arizona past March 15, 2018, he would have received a payment of about US$1.08 million from the sale of another quarter.

And he also would have been guaranteed a bonus from the sale of the rest of his shares -- worth today about US$2.16 million - provided he was never fired for cause. He would have received that portion in March 2020.

As it stands right now, he'll never see the US$3.24 million. The university declined to comment.

Though the name of the donor (and the MLP) is redacted from public records, details in the documents point to one company: Western Refining Logistics LP, whose one-time president and CEO Jeff Stevens is a major Wildcats booster. He has previously declined to comment.

Western Refining was sold in August to Andeavor Logistics LP in an all-stock deal, with 1 share of Western Refining translating to .5233 shares of Andeavor. The bonus calculations are based on the assumption that the Western Refining shares in Rodriguez's contract were turned into the commensurate number of Andeavor shares.

Rodriguez was hired at Arizona in 2012 after stints at West Virginia and Michigan. In six seasons in Tucson, he was 43-39 and 3-2 in bowl games.

Rodriguez said in a statement on Twitter that he was "deeply disappointed" to learn of the school's decision. He said that while the allegations against him are false, he did have a consensual extramarital affair.