UK unveils contract details for new Women's Basketball assistant, Gail Goestenkors

(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Top assistant coaches don’t come cheap. Gail Goestenkors, the new assistant under head coach Kyra Elzy for the Kentucky Women’s Basketball Team, will be worth every penny.

On Wednesday, the University of Kentucky unveiled the contract details for Goestenkors, who was announced as a member of the Wildcat coaching staff back on April 26. Exactly one month later, we now know the full contract details for the 2015 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.

Signing a two-year deal that will run through the 2022-23 season, Goestenkors will earn $250,000 the first year and then $275,000 in the second year, effectively making her the highest-paid assistant on the staff. Even though her fellow co-workers, specifically assistant coaches Niya Butts ($225,000 per year) and Amber Smith ($150,000 per year), have been with the program longer, they don’t have the coaching pedigree that Goestenkors holds. She made a name for herself as the head women’s coach at Duke when she turned a middling team into a national powerhouse for over a decade.

Goestenkors could make even more money during her time at Kentucky if the team were to hit a few different benchmarks:

$20,000 bonus: Make an Elite Eight.
$30,000 bonus: Make a Final Four.
$40,000 bonus: Win a national title.

The bonuses will not be cumulative, according to the contract, meaning Goestenkors is only entitled to one bonus per year no matter how far Kentucky goes in the NCAA Tournament. Also added in the details is a $100,000 buyout (per year remaining on the contract) from Goestenkors to UK if she were to leave the staff during her two-year deal. The deal was signed on May 7 and will go into effect on June 1.

During her time with the Blue Devils from 1992-2007, the 58-year old Goestenkors posted an incredible 396-99 record, leading Duke to 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances that included three Elite Eight finishes, two Final Four finishes, and two NCAA Runners-Up finishes. Over her final 10 seasons with Duke, she led her teams to at least a Sweet 16 berth every single time.

The entire contract is available to the public and can be viewed at the link here.