Dabo Swinney’s contract extension to include adjusted buyout and substantial new incentives

CLEMSON - Dabo Swinney’s buyout will be adjusted and the Clemson football coach will receive new compensation escalators when his contract extension is finalized, Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips told The Post and Courier on Monday.

Phillips noted the university is working on the final details of the three-year extension that Swinney and the school agreed upon last week. The deal will keep Swinney on campus through 2017 and pay him average annual compensation of $1.965 million.

Phillips did not reveal the new buyout figure.

Swinney’s previous buyout called for the Clemson to pay Swinney $400,000 for every year remaining on his contract in the event that he was fired without cause. Similarly, the contract called for Swinney to pay a penalty of $400,000 for every year remaining on the contract if he terminated the contract.

Phillips noted there will be new escalators in Swinney’s contract “very similar” to those of the original contract.

Swinney met all the major contract escalators in the original contract he signed in 2009.

The incentives included Swinney’s base compensation rising from $900,000 to the median compensation of all ACC head football coaches with an Atlantic Division title, a threshold he met in 2009.

Swinney met the other major escalator by leading Clemson to an ACC title in December, triggering his base compensation to increase to the average of the top seven ACC head coaches.

Swinney’s raise called for him to earn $2.2 million in 2012 but he agreed to take $300,000 less so Clemson could further bolster its assistant staff.

Clemson’s football staff will earn a total of $6.1 million in 2012, a program record.