A loss to a visiting #2 ranked Penn State squad this past Saturday would have been completely understandable, but after handing the reigns of the offense to Jerry Neuheisel the Bruins offense exploded for a 42-27 win while the first-time play caller figured out how to work to coach-to-headset communication in-game to varying degrees of success.
The win marked the first win of the year for the struggling UCLA squad under the direction of Tim Skipper, who himself is in his second stint as an interim head coach after serving in the same role for Fresno State for one game of the 2023 season and then a 6-7 campaign during 2024 before landing on DeShawn Foster's staff in Westwood.
After UCLA's upset of the Nittany Lions catapulted them into the national conversation for the first time in quite some time, it was only natural to begin to wonder what the role of an interim head coach gets paid taking over a team after an 0-3 start at a place like UCLA.
Well, thanks to TheMightyBruin.com, we've got an answer for that.
A public records request sent by the outlet to UCLA has revealed that Skipper will earn a total of $875k for serving as UCLA's interim head coach this season.
The contract, which officially began on September 15th and runs through December 31st, also includes the typical bonuses you'd find in head coaching contracts, including appearing in the conference title game ($20k), appearing in a bowl game.
It also included language a bit odd for taking over an 0-3 team, such as a bonus of $20k for appearing in the College Football Playoff, and $10k each for appearing in the CFP Quarterfinal, Semifinal, and Championship game, as well as a cool $10k for leading the Bruins to a national title.
While it's certainly understandable from a legal perspective why the College Football Playoff appearance stuff has to be in the contract, we'd have to see a meltdown around college football that would make our annual Nuclear Winter series blush for that to come to fruition.
Regardless, Skipper could earn up to an additional $100k if he were to hit all of those benchmarks.
Bonuses aside, Skipper's $875,000 salary is more than nearly 40 FBS head coaches.
Utilizing data from the most recently available USA Today Coaches Salary Database from 2024, Skipper's interim salary would place him 98th nationally.
Skipper's salary ranks ahead of what Georgia State's Dell McGee ($853k), Western Michigan's Lance Taylor ($850k), and South Alabama's Major Applewhite and Arkansas State's Butch Jones ($825k each, respectively) made last fall.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.