UAA’s new hockey coach will earn considerably more than UAF’s new hockey coach

When it comes to both annual salary and potential bonus money, UAA's new hockey coach got a better deal than UAF's new hockey coach.

Then again, UAA's Matt Curley arguably faces a more difficult task than UAF's Erik Largen.

He takes over a program that was 4-26-4 last season — no other team in the nation had fewer wins than the Seawolves — and has had only had one winning season since joining the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 1993-94.

Both men will earn six-figure salaries in their first year as NCAA Division I head hockey coaches, and both can add to their riches by meeting annual performance goals.

Curley will earn $175,000 as the UAA coach, and Largen will make $140,000 as the UAF coach, according to contract information supplied by both universities.

Curley could earn another $78,000 in bonuses if he and his team meet various on-ice and classroom goals – his contract lists 11 performance bonuses in all.

Largen's contract includes two available bonuses that could add up to $13,860.

That leaves Curley, 35, with potential earnings of $253,000 in his first season on the job. Largen, 31, could earn as much as $153,860.

[UAA and its new hockey coach take a chance on each other]

In the event Curley orchestrates one of the biggest turnarounds in college hockey history and takes the Seawolves to the national championship next season, he'd be rewarded with at least $36,000 in bonus money for winning a national title:

— $6,000 for qualifying for the 16-team NCAA tournament;

— $5,000 for each tournament victory for a potential total of $20,000 (it takes four tournament victories to win it all);

— $10,000 for a national championship.

The majority of Curley's other available bonuses would reward unprecedented achievements by the Seawolves. Besides the bonuses he would win for capturing a national championship, Curley also could earn:

— $2,500 for winning the annual Governor's Cup series against UAF. The Nanooks have won every Governor's Cup series since 2010, although their three championships from 2010-12 were vacated due to NCAA infractions.

— $4,000 for a winning season (defined as a winning percentage of .501 or better).

— $6,000 for the WCHA regular-season championship.

— $8,000 for the WCHA post-season tournament championship.

— $8,000 for hosting a first-round WCHA playoff series.

— $3,000 for being named WCHA coach of the year.

— $6,000 for being named the national coach of the year.

— $3,000 to $4,500 if the hockey team meets or exceeds various NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores, which measure a team's academic performance and student retention.

Other benefits include a $250 bi-weekly car allowance and 20 tickets to every UAA home hockey game.

Curley's contract does not include a bonus for increased attendance at Sullivan Arena, which in the last 25 years has plummeted from 6,406 in 1993-94 to 1,998 last season. When former coach Matt Thomas was hired in 2013, his contract included a sliding-scale bonus of $2,500 to $3,500 if the average attendance rose to 4,800 or more – something that never happened in Thomas' five years at UAA.

Thomas earned a base salary of $200,000 during his final season, according to UAA. He was paid $150,000 in his first season.

[UAF picks homegrown Erik Largen as its next hockey coach]

Largen, meanwhile, is getting paid considerably more than interim coach Lance West earned last year and considerably less than longtime coach Dallas Ferguson was paid in 2016-17.

In Ferguson's ninth and final season with the Nanooks, he had a 12-year contract worth $162,240 a year, according to information provided by UAF. Available bonuses added up to $34,000, giving him potential total earnings of $196,240.

West worked last season on a nine-month contract worth $75,000 in base salary. His contract also included $34,000 worth of potential bonus money, for a possible total of $109,000.

Largen's available bonuses are $6,735 for winning the WCHA post-season tournament and $7,125 for a team grade-point average of 3.4 or higher.

Largen's bonus package also includes the use of a sponsor-provided vehicle, if one is available.

In 2015, bgsuhockey.com — a website that covers the Bowling Green  hockey team — did a survey of WCHA coaching salaries. At the time, the highest salaried coach in the 10-team league was Minnesota State's Mike Hastings, who received an annual salary of $290,000 with no available bonuses. The lowest paid was Lake Superior State's Damon Whitten, who received an annual salary of $100,000 with an additional $40,000 available in bonuses.