Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson has signed a contract extension
Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson has signed a contract extension to stay with the program moving forward, a school spokesperson confirmed to Blue-White Illustrated Wednesday night.
The news was first reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Details of the agreement were not disclosed. Penn State has historically not released information about coach’s contracts aside from its head football coach. It’s unclear where Sanderson was in his current deal and also uncertain how long this new one will last.
Sanderson took over the Lions wrestling program for the 2009-2010 season. Since, it has become one of the most dominating dynasties in college athletics. Fresh off another national title, Penn State has won nine team titles and 32 individual titles under the 43-year-old Utah native’s direction.
What could Sanderson’s Penn State deal be worth?
As noted above, Penn State is unlikely to ever disclose Sanderson’s contract details. We can note that he was not included in the university’s right-to-know report from the 2020-2021 fiscal year. It includes a section with the school’s top-25 salaries paid to employees who are not officers or directors. The cut-off for that list was $662,311.
We do know, however, that Iowa recently set the public-facing market for wrestling coaches. Per Hawk Central, the seven-year deal for Hawkeyes’ head coach Tom Brands will net him the following annual base salaries:
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- $550,000 for the ’22-23 season
- $625,000 for ’23-24
- $700,000 for ’24-25
- $725,000 for ’25-26
- $750,000 for ’26-27
- $775,000 for ’27-28
- $800,000 for ’28-29
Sanderson has routinely led Penn State over Iowa at both the team and individual levels. So, it goes without saying that he’d have every reason to request and receive more money.
That said, all we can do is speculate at this moment in time.
Kraft talks Sanderson
In a recent exclusive interview with Blue-White Illustrated’s Nate Bauer, new Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft brought up Sanderson’s legendary run while discussing where Nittany Lions football and the athletic department sit within the larger Penn State ecosystem.
“Football is critically important,” Kraft said. “I would argue that football and basketball really drive [the] national narrative, they do. But, when you win a national championship like Cael does, that sense of pride in the community is huge. Cael is the greatest ever. Char [Morett-Curtis] winning a field hockey National Championship, or Erica [Dambach] winning [a women’s soccer] national championship, those things help build blocks to creating a program.
“So yes, I’ve heard it’s football. Yeah, it is football. It’s important. And it drives a lot of the revenue that helps us the other programs. But that doesn’t mean you have to take away from anybody else. And I think that comes with open dialogue and communication and partnership and honest feedback with one another.”
