Johnny Nansen nets raise in move from Arizona defensive coordinator role to Texas

In leaving Arizona for Texas, Johnny Nansen took a step down in duties and title, but a step up in salary.

After earning $750,000 in salary as Arizona's defensive coordinator (plus a $50,000 retention bonus that was due to him at the end of January), Nansen will make $900,000 as the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Texas, according to documents obtained by the Austin American-Statesman. 

Of course, there were non-monetary factors that took Nansen from Tucson to Austin. Nansen and Steve Sarkisian are extremely close -- Nansen was an assistant under Sark from 2009-15 at Washington and USC.

New defensive tackles coach Kenny Baker will earn $550,000 in 2024 and $600,000 in 2025. Nansen will earn a modest $25,000 bump in '25.

Additionally, Joe Cook of Inside Texas reported new details on Sarkisian's contract extension. 

Texas would owe Sark 85 percent of the remaining contract if fired for cause, a 15 percent increase from his original deal. It would cost Texas $54.315 million to move on after 2024, $45.475 million after 2025, $36.55 million after '26, and so on until bottoming out at $9.265 million with one year remaining on the contract after 2029. As previously announced, his salary starts at $10.3 million in 2024 and reaches $10.9 million in 2030. 

The contract includes a duty to mitigate for Sarkisian and an offset for Texas until Dec. 31, 2026. Those clauses expire on Jan. 1, 2027. 

Should he leave for another position, Sarkisian would owe Texas $10 million after 2024, $6 million after 2025, and dropping $1 million a year thereafter. 

His bonus structure ranges from $1.25 million for winning a national championship to $100,000 for reaching a bowl game. 

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.