Sawvel's Contract

[OrediggerPoke]

For the past three years, we've ended up debating what Jay Sawvel's contract actually says. Rather than having the same argument over and over, I figured it was worth creating a standalone topic that people can reference in the future.

Sawvel's contract is available here:
https://www.uwyo.edu/generalcounsel/_files/docs/transparency-initative/head-football-coach.pdf

Burman negotiated a fully guaranteed contract for Sawvel. Unless Sawvel were to do something that justified termination for cause (think the crazy Sherrone Moore situation at the University of Michigan), he is entitled to virtually every dollar of the contract. In other words, aside from relatively minor incentives included in the contract such as ticket sales and team GPA, Sawvel is paid the same whether he's Wyoming's head coach or spending every day on the golf course after being fired.

Here's Why: Start with Section 12(f) of Sawvel's contract. It provides that if Sawvel is terminated without cause, he is entitled to receive the full amount of his "Guaranteed Compensation" and the full amount of his "Base Compensation." The contract defines "Guaranteed Compensation" to include all remaining years of the agreement and to include the compensation for obligatory media appearances (coaches' show, radio, etc...).

For 2027 and 2028, that means:

• Base Compensation: $350,000 per year
• Guaranteed Compensation: $900,000 per year

Total: Sawvel will receive the entirety of $1.25 million per year for each 2027 and 2028 if he is fired ($2.5 million lump sum payment PLUS any dollars remaining to be paid for 2026).

 

[Brew_Poke]

Holy shit. Does Burman literaly hate UW? Why does he go against the University's interests on every decision?

 

[LanderPoke]

Holy shit. Does Burman literaly hate UW? Why does he go against the University's interests on every decision?

Burman hates us and all the lawyers who signed off on the contract should be fired because this proves none of them have the critical thinking skills to make good decisions. Unreal how a man with LITERALLY ZERO LEVERAGE could have gotten a contract like this. It makes no sense , eve for rwtarded-ass Burman

I am beginning to think there is fraud involved and this should be investigated

 

[TheRealUW]

Burman definitely deserves a lot of the blame with this, but surely a bunch of other people, including the President and BoT, had to sign off on this. How in the hell did that happen?

 

[cowpokeguy]

My personal conspiracy theory is that Craig Bohl had his hands in engineering this. Remember an unproven Aaron Bohl was promoted to DC as part of Sawvel getting the HC job. Sawvel just had to not screw it up and I believe the plan was for A. Bohl to take over. That's why Craig looked so stricken that first game at ASU realizing that Sawvel had, in fact, screwed it up.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Here is a comparison of Burman's and Sawvel's contract (courtesy of AI):

Burman's contract can be located here: https://www.uwyo.edu/generalcounsel/_files/docs/transparency-initative/athletic-director.pdf

Comparison​

Issue	Tom Burman	Jay Sawvel
Current annual contractual compensation	$575,000	$975,000 in 2026
2027 annual compensation	$575,000	$1.25 million
2028 annual compensation	Contract expired	$1.25 million
Contract expiration	June 30, 2027	December 31, 2028
Without-cause payment	Remaining base salary only	Remaining base salary plus guaranteed compensation
Mitigation/offset	Yes	Yes
Outside job triggering offset	Collegiate or professional athletics	Collegiate or professional athletics

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Burman hates us and all the lawyers who signed off on the contract should be fired because this proves none of them have the critical thinking skills to make good decisions. Unreal how a man with LITERALLY ZERO LEVERAGE could have gotten a contract like this. It makes no sense , eve for rwtarded-ass Burman

I am beginning to think there is fraud involved and this should be investigated

In fairness, lawyers typically are not the ones making business decisions or negotiating the economic terms of a contract. They are usually given the agreed-upon deal terms—negotiated by someone else (here, presumably Burman, because that was literally his job)—and asked to reduce those terms to writing.

That said, any competent attorney would almost certainly flag a termination provision like this and ask whether it was truly the parties' intent to give a brand-new, unproven head coach a fully guaranteed contract. If I was the attorney, you can surely bet that there would have been emails to my client in bold and caps locks questioning that provision.

My speculation is that this was the product of incompetence and a copy-and-paste lazy approach. I suspect they simply took the termination language from Craig Bohl's most recently negotiated contract and Burman likely negotiated and simply reused it for Sawvel.

The difference, of course, is that Bohl had already established himself as a successful head coach and likely re-negotiated those protections after earning them. Applying the same termination language to a first-time head coach without that track record is the definition of incompetence.


All of this to say - folks apparently let incompetency continue at Wyoming. The BOT, who is supposed to be the check and balance, appears to have been asleep at the wheel. I don't find it surprising that the former President would have supported such a contractual provision; he probably loved it so he could use it as justification for his own guaranteed contract.

 

[Bear Claw]

This is wrong on so many levels. It’s unfathomable, really.

 

[TheRealUW]

Why has nobody in the media asked Burman or UW about this guaranteed contract?

 

[rocket city poke]

Good post! The thing that gets me is why do they even have a contract with Burman? NOBODY else is paying the guy anything to do this anywhere else? His entire 22 years has been a gift. No other program is looking and going "boy if we could get that Tom Burman. . . too bad he is under contract at the University of WYoming". Sawvel's is much the same.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Why has nobody in the media asked Burman or UW about this guaranteed contract?

Thorburn is on UW’s payroll. Don’t expect anything but sunshine and roses anymore from him.

While I like Cody’s work, one would think Sawvel is the second coming of Vince Lombardi reading his stuff. Whatever secret Sawvel has on Cody, it must be something big.

Not sure there really is anyone else out there that cares about Wyoming athletics in the media.

 

[LanderPoke]

Thorburn is on UW’s payroll. Don’t expect anything but sunshine and roses anymore from him.

While I like Cody’s work, one would think Sawvel is the second coming of Vince Lombardi reading his stuff. Whatever secret Sawvel has on Cody, it must be something big.

Not sure there really is anyone else out there that cares about Wyoming athletics in the media.

There is some d bag that blocked me on x for correcting his grammar. Forgot his name, but he is apparently a beat writer for some paper

 

[PorkerPoke]

Thorburn is on UW’s payroll. Don’t expect anything but sunshine and roses anymore from him.

While I like Cody’s work, one would think Sawvel is the second coming of Vince Lombardi reading his stuff. Whatever secret Sawvel has on Cody, it must be something big.

Not sure there really is anyone else out there that cares about Wyoming athletics in the media.

Once upon a time I was very friendly with a couple of people that had media credentials and was invited by them to accompany for the football postgame in the RAC. I would sometimes whisper to them they should ask question X. I was told to drop it and once removed from the RAC they would divulge that they were concerned with keeping their media credentials. It was during the early Bohl years and the word was you didn’t ask Bohl anything he didn’t want to answer. I have to believe that is the de facto policy overall at UW and it is not limited to the football program. I was told that the reason why they never wrote anything very harsh was that it would be used as cause to justify forfeiture of their credentials.

There simply is not the kind of money in the Wyoming booster population to hold it over the good old boys in control. The rubber stamp seems to rule the day. Content with subpar mediocrity most likely because any desire for a redirection would be cost prohibitive to the frustrated booster.

UW doesn’t give a rats ass about the $1,500 per year booster buying season tickets which is much more representative of the typical fan base than a big pocket booster.

 

[OrediggerPoke]

Once upon a time I was very friendly with a couple of people that had media credentials and was invited by them to accompany for the football postgame in the RAC. I would sometimes whisper to them they should ask question X. I was told to drop it and once removed from the RAC they would divulge that they were concerned with keeping their media credentials. It was during the early Bohl years and the word was you didn’t ask Bohl anything he didn’t want to answer. I have to believe that is the de facto policy overall at UW and it is not limited to the football program. I was told that the reason why they never wrote anything very harsh was that it would be used as cause to justify forfeiture of their credentials.

There simply is not the kind of money in the Wyoming booster population to hold it over the good old boys in control. The rubber stamp seems to rule the day. Content with subpar mediocrity most likely because any desire for a redirection would be cost prohibitive to the frustrated booster.

UW doesn’t give a rats ass about the $1,500 per year booster buying season tickets which is much more representative of the typical fan base than a big pocket booster.

Perhaps not a coincidence that dictators are often able to stay in power by controlling the media narrative.

 

[Wyokie]

To paraphrase a very important line from the Dune movie/book series, whoever controls the media controls the universe!

 

[Bosler]

This contract structure is standard around the country. The length and salary amounts of contracts are all over the map, but not the "cause/no cause" termination provisions.

It would be shocking if it were any different. It's an industry standard.

 

[Bear Claw]

I’m obviously not a lawyer (nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night) but could it be argued that running a program into the ground and having a losing record every year is “just cause” and worthy of contract termination?