Reaching the Final Four means big bonuses for college basketball coaches

• College basketball coaches often get big bonuses for reaching the Final Four.
• In the men's tournament, Houston's Kelvin Sampson led the way of publicly reported bonuses, with $50,000.
• On the women's side, South Carolina's Dawn Staley reportedly has a $200,000 bonus for making the Final Four.

Though college athletes do not get paid, making the Final Four is lucrative for their coaches.

College basketball coaches' salaries are not always publicly available. Still, reports of their contracts and their incentives occasionally get publicized through public records requests or leaked when they sign new deals.

For instance, according to Stadium's Andy Wittry, UCLA men's head coach Mick Cronin has a salary of $3.6 million for 2020, with a $25,000 bonus for making the men's Final Four. He'll receive a $50,000 bonus if UCLA makes the tournament championship.

Similarly, Houston's Kelvin Sampson has a $3 million salary and $50,000 bonus for making the men's Final Four, according to Joseph Duarte of The Houston Chronicle.

There are no reported bonuses for Mark Few of Gonzaga or Scott Drew of Baylor. Still, it's possible that they, too, will be rewarded for making the Final Four. According to USA Today's college coaches salary database, Few made $1.9 million this season while Drew made $3.3 million.

The women's coaches make less than the men but are still rewarded

Geno Auriemma of UConn appears to be the highest-paid of the coaches in the women's Final Four.

According to a report from USA Today's Steve Berkowitz from 2017, Auriemma signed an extension that would give him a base salary of $2.4 million. It's unclear what his bonus is for making the Final Four - if he still has one - but The Hartford Courant reported in 2015 that Auriemma received one month's salary, just over $33,000, for advancing in each round of the tournament.

This was before Auriemma's recent extension but would mean a bonus of more than $130,000 for reaching the Final Four.

Meanwhile, South Carolina's Dawn Staley had a $200,000 bonus for making the Final Four to go along with her yearly salary of $1.7 million, according to Sportico. Staley's bonus would remain $200,000 if South Carolina makes the championship game but would leap to $400,000 if South Carolina wins it all.

Adia Barnes of Arizona had a $40,000 bonus on the line for making the Final Four in 2019-20, according to Bruce Pascoe of Tuscon.com. It's unclear if that number changed this season. Barnes reportedly has a salary of $400,000.

Stanford's Tara Vanderveer, the winningest coach in women's college basketball, is a mystery. Her salary or contract incentives have not been publicly reported. According to a 2010 Stanford Mag profile, Vanderveer was rumored to make $500,000 annually, but she has since signed new contracts to remain with the Cardinals.