Mizzou Doing It Right-Good for them

Rhodes is a small time AD. Baylor is a good place for him to go in oblivion. He will not be missed. Certainly not SEC material.

By Dave Matter St. Louis Post-Dispatch

COLUMBIA, MO. • By leaving the University of Missouri 14 months after he became athletics director, Mack Rhoades owes MU more money than the school paid him in base salary.

Rhoades, who earlier this week accepted the athletics director job at Baylor, must pay MU $800,000 for leaving before the end of his five-year contract. Rhoades’ contract calls for a $1 million buyout if he leaves before the final six months of the deal, though that amount is reduced by $200,000 on each of the first four anniversary dates of his first day in office, which was April 27, 2015.

MU paid Rhoades $600,000 in base salary from his first day on the job through June 30, 2016. After June 30, any salary increase was subject for review by chancellor Hank Foley and interim system president Mike Middleton.

The Post-Dispatch acquired Rhoades’ MU contract Friday via an open records request. Rhoades contract had not been previously released and was not finalized until March 4, 2016, according to the document. The school’s custodian of records did not have Rhoades’ separation agreement on file as of Friday.

Baylor plans to formally introduce Rhoades as AD at a news conference Monday in Waco, Texas. As a private university, Baylor is not obligated to disclose Rhoades’ salary, but sources have indicated the Big 12 school will pay him a guaranteed $1 million salary with long-term security.

Rhoades’ Mizzou contract included two courtesy cars, moving expenses and a housing allowance. He moved to Columbia last year from Houston where he had been AD at the University of Houston since 2009.

Rhoades was eligible for up to $150,000 in incentive payments for undefined academic achievement and social responsibility benchmarks and another $150,000 for undefined athletic accomplishments for MU teams. It’s unclear if he was paid those bonuses.

On Wednesday, Foley appointed deputy athletics director Wren Baker to serve as interim AD until the school hires Rhoades’ successor.