McIntosh’s new employment contract, which took effect in July, also offers incentives tied to athletic and academic performance.

According to contract language, he can earn up to $200,000 in bonuses each year, part of which depends on Wisconsin’s score on the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate, which gives athletes six years to graduate and takes into account transfers in and out of college.

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A GSR of 92% will earn McIntosh a $30,000 bonus. A GSR of 93% or better will increase the bonus to $50,000. The NCAA average is 90%, and Wisconsin hit a new high of 93% last year in the most recent calculations.

For athletic performance, McIntosh’s bonus is 7.5% of the total bonuses the Badgers’ head coaches earn during a school year. That rate is subject to review and negotiation based on potential changes in law and “the general economics of college athletics,” according to the contract.

Wisconsin’s head coaches earned more than $340,000 in bonuses during the 2023-24 season, although football coach Luke Fickell had to pass the $40,000 bonus he qualified for to his assistants. McIntosh’s athletic performance bonus would have been between $25,000 and $29,000 based on those amounts, but no bonuses were listed in the original contract he signed when he took the job in 2021.

Wisconsin announced McIntosh’s new contract on July 25, one day after he signed it. It replaced a five-year deal that was set to expire at the end of June 2026.

Wisconsin athletic director receives new contract and hefty salary increase

McIntosh’s $1.45 million salary for 2024-25 — $950,000 base salary and a $500,000 additional compensation agreement with the University of Wisconsin Foundation — was a 41% increase over what he was due to make under the old contract. Wisconsin said the new salary is mid-range for the Big Ten.

The base salary increases by $50,000 each year in the new contract. McIntosh will continue to receive the use of two cars and a membership to the family country club as part of his contract.

Severance packages have changed if McIntosh is fired or accepts another position.

Wisconsin owes McIntosh 75% of the remaining balance of the contract and an additional indemnity agreement as a penalty if he is fired without cause. The severance payment used to be a fixed amount in each year of the agreement, starting at $1.88 million in 2021-22 and ending at $1 million in 2026-27 and beyond.

How Wisconsin’s football club is preparing to pay its players directly

The amount Wisconsin owes in a buyout will be reduced by the amount McIntosh earns from a new job at another school or university. The new contract includes a clause that includes an executive position with an NFL team as part of the buyout mitigation.

This also played a role in the amount McIntosh would owe Wisconsin if he took another job. In the old contract, that amount was zero, now it is 25% of the remaining salary in the contract and an additional compensation agreement if he leaves for “comparable employment as an administrator at a college or university or as an executive with an NFL club.”

McIntosh, a former Badgers offensive lineman, has worked for the athletic department since 2014. After college, he played for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL for three seasons before ending his career due to a neck injury.