Contract details: Mizzou’s Kellie Harper signs five-year deal worth $4.5 million
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou women's basketball coach Kellie Harper is set to make nearly $1 million per year in a five-year deal that is worth up to $4.5 million total, according to a contract obtained by ABC 17 through an open records request.
Harper's contract will officially begin on April 1 and run through March of 2030.
In her first year at the helm of Tiger women's hoops, the former Tennessee Volunteers head coach is set to make $850,000 total. That includes a base salary of $300,000 and $550,000 worth of non-salary compensation. Her pay will go up in $25,000 increments from there. In 2026-27 she will make a total of $900,000, in 2027-28 she will earn a total of $925,000 and so on until she reaches a $950,000 total salary in 2030.
According to former head coach Robin Pingeton's contract, Harper will be earning more than Coach P did in her final season in Columbia, as she totaled 550,000 in total compensation before stepping away from the program at the end of the season.
Mizzou's agreement with Harper also includes several incentives. You can find the full list of those incentive below.
- Academic performance - $25,000
- SEC Champions - $50,000
- SEC Tournament Champions - $25,000
- NCAA Tournament appearance - $25,000
- Sweet 16 - $25,000
- Elite 8 - $50,000
- Final 4 - $75,000
- National Champion - $200,000
- SEC Coach of the Year - $25,000
- National Coach of the Year - $50,000
- 25-win season - $25,000
- 30-win season - $50,000
- Maximum incentives - $450,000
Harper will receive a staff pool of $950,000 to bring in a coaching staff for the 2025-26 campaign. That will include five assistant coaches, one strength and conditioning coach, one director of women's basketball creative content and one director of video/analytics operation.
The contract also detailed what would happen in the event of Harper getting fired or opting to leave the program.
If Athletic Director Laird Veatch chose to fire Harper at any time in her contract with Mizzou, the University would owe her 75 percent of that total that is remaining on her deal. On the other hand, if Harper choses to leave before her contract expires, she will owe MU 50 percent of the total compensation left on her deal.
Harper and Veatch signed the deal on March 19, which was a little more than week over Veatch addressed the media about what he wanted in a new head coach.
