Georgia basketball Mark Fox has finally signed his contract extension.
That fact was confirmed Tuesday by Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity, who insists it has nothing to do with Tuesday’s game against No. 1 Kentucky or the Bulldogs’ recent three-game winning streak.
In fact, based on the timeline provided by McGarity, which has Fox signing the document “a couple of weekends ago,” the Bulldogs’ coach actually signed it after one of the worst weeks of the season — after Georgia lost to back-to-back home games to Auburn and South Carolina.
“He signed it and we’re just waiting to get it back from the (UGA) president’s office,” McGarity said Tuesday. “Things just lagged and there was no urgency to sign anything because everybody agreed on everything. … There weren’t any issues of substance and I was not too concerned about it.”
The parties actually agreed to terms on a new deal in early April 2014. At that time, McGarity and the UGA athletics board decided to extend Fox’s contract two years through the 2018 season. His salary of $1.7 million annually stayed the same.
The primary difference, according to a draft obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is that Fox’s liquidated-damages clause (should he choose to leave) will go away. That was previously set at $2 million.
Conversely, Georgia wouldn’t have to pay him as much if it chose to fire him. According to the previous contract, UGA would have had to pay Fox 100 percent of the remaining compensation after March 31, 2016. That will be reduced to 25 percent of the total owed, which would be $800,000 in 2017 and $400,000 in 2018.
That’s just like Mark Richt’s new contract and in keeping with McGarity’s general philosophy. It’s his belief that once a coach gets past his first contract, he has effectively built up equity with the institution and fulfilled the liquidated-damages aspect of the original agreement. McGarity has said before he doesn’t believe UGA should “be an anchor” preventing a coach from leaving nor should it have to pay veteran coaches for entire seasons they don’t coach.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (19-9, 10-6 SEC) appear on track to earn an NCAA tournament bid this year. That won’t be a question at all if they were to somehow knock off top-ranked and undefeated Kentucky (29-0, 16-0) tonight at 9 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum.
The timing of that game and Fox signing off on the deal is purely coincidental, McGarity said.
“It was a formality more than anything else,” he said.
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