Lincoln, Neb. – Bill Callahan’s new five-year contract shows that athletic director Steve Pederson is putting his money where his mouth is.
Pederson has taken every opportunity in recent months to praise the work of his fourth- year football coach, and Tuesday he announced a deal that keeps Callahan at Nebraska until January 2012.
Callahan received a modest raise, to $1.75 million annually from $1.69 million. But Pederson sweetened the bonus structure, giving the Huskers’ coach a chance to earn up to $425,000 annually for winning division, conference and national championships.
Most important, Pederson gave Callahan the promise of more time to move Nebraska back to the elite of college football.
Pederson said Callahan has exceeded his expectations and that he appreciated the work Callahan has done since taking over the program from Frank Solich in January 2004.
Callahan is 23-15 going into Saturday’s game at Wake Forest, but he has earned much acclaim for his recruiting.
“We believe there is going to be great success into the future,” Pederson said. “We know we have the right person leading the program. Our goal here was to let this person know that we would like him to coach here a long time.”
Callahan, 51, said the new contract gives clarity to prospective recruits about his future.
“There were several times in the last few months where I had parents and recruits visiting personally upstairs in my office, and they wanted to know what my status was and where I’m headed and where I’m going,” he said. “I told them I’m going to be here. This is the proof of the pudding that I want to be at Nebraska.”
Callahan remains the fourth highest-paid coach in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops ($3.45 million), Texas’ Mack Brown ($2.91 million) and Texas A&M Dennis Franchione’s ($2.01 million).
