Billy Donlon takes over at Eastern Michigan for Stan Heath, who didn’t have a winning season in his five years at the helm.
New Eastern Michigan head men’s basketball coach Billy Donlon will earn at least $450,000 annually, after agreeing to a six-year contract earlier this week.
Donlon has signed a term sheet which has been obtained by The Detroit News through an open-records request. He is set to be formally introduced in an on-campus press conference in Ypsilanti in the coming days. He is still working with Clemson, as an assistant coach, for its NCAA Tournament run, which begins Friday against Iowa in Tampa, Fla.
According to details of the term sheet Donlon signed Tuesday, his salary will start at $450,000, and it will rise by $15,000 a year, to $525,000 in the sixth and final year of the contract.
Donlon, 49, who previously was a head coach at Wright State and Kansas City, is taking over for Stan Heath, who was not retained at the end of a five-year contract that paid him more than $375,000 a year.
Donlon also will be eligible for performance bonuses for winning Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament championships, and NCAA Tournament appearances, as well as reaching academic benchmarks, according to the terms of the term sheet. The exact amount for the bonuses is not in the term sheet.
He also will get a car allowance, moving expenses and 12 tickets for each men’s basketball home game.
The buyout for Donlon will start at $2 million in Year 1 ― the same structure if he is fired by the university without cause, or if Donlon leaves for another job ― and drops by $250,000 a year, to $250,000 the last year.
Donlon’s term sheet also stipulates a starting salary pool of $550,000 for his four assistant coaches; that total increases by $15,000 each year. He has not yet named any assistants.
Donlon has spent the last three seasons at Clemson, under longtime mentor Brad Brownell. He was head coach at Kansas City for three years, and before that head coach at Wright State for six years. Between the two head-coaching jobs, he spent a season on John Beilein’s staff at Michigan and three on Chris Collins’ staff at Northwestern. He takes over an EMU program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998.
As a head coach, Donlon has a 155-133 record. He made three Horizon League tournament championship games and was Horizon League coach of the year at Wright State.
Donlon is one of two new MAC head men’s basketball coaches in the state, with Western Michigan closing in on hiring University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley head coach Kahil Fennell on Friday. Fennell is expected to sign a five-year contract that will start around $400,000 a year.
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