Leaving a university football team that competes outside the so-called Power 4 conferences to join the independent program at the University of Connecticut has generally been considered a step down.
For UConn’s new head football coach Jason Candle, however, his move from the University of Toledo has resulted in a significant salary boost.
According to his contract with UConn, a copy of which was provided to Hartford Business Journal, Candle, 46, will be paid a base annual salary of $400,000, but will also receive “supplemental compensation” totaling $2.115 million per year.
Candle’s combined annual compensation of $2.515 million at UConn is more than double his $1.15 million salary at Toledo.
Toledo is a member of the Mid-American Conference, one of six conferences outside of NCAA football’s Power Four conferences — The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 10, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference (SEC). UConn’s football team remains unaffiliated with a conference.
The six-year contract includes potential salary increases of up to $150,000 per year, and a host of incentive bonuses he can earn — including an up to $1 million bonus for UConn qualifying for the College Football Playoff.
The contract also includes potential bonuses for his team achieving specific academic goals each year.
Candle’s contract is similar to that for former head coach Jim Mora, who left last month to become head coach at Colorado State University.
Mora signed a contract extension in December last year that had been valued at $10 million over its final four years, or $2.5 million annually.
Candle’s contract makes him the third-highest paid coach at UConn. Men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley, who rejected an offer from the NBA’s Los Angeles Laker to remain at UConn, agreed to a six-year contract extension in 2024 valued at $50 million.
Hurley, who led UConn to back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024, receives a base salary of $400,000 per year and for the 2024-25 season received additional compensation of $6.375 million, which escalates each year through the term of the contract. He also receives a retention bonus of $1 million per year.
Women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma also signed a contract extension in June last year. The five-year extension is valued at $18.7 million. Auriemma, who led the Huskies to a 12th national title in April this year, also receives a base salary of $400,000 plus additional compensation of $3.34 million for the 2025-26 season.
The highest paid football coach outside of the Power 4 conferences is Jamey Chadwell at Liberty University in Virginia, a Conference USA school. Chadwell is paid more than $5.9 million per year.
