Coach Bobby Petrino Salary Bonus $500,000 Confirmed, But May Still Increase If Cardinals Wins More Games?

The University of Louisville head football coach Bobby Petrino is again guaranteed a spot among top College Football bonus recipients. For the third time of his period with the Cardinals, Petrino will in fact receive $500,000 bonus, which will be added to his already-fat salary. However, under his new contract, he may still receive more whenever the Cardinals win a game.

The bonus was confirmed because the school's athletics compliance department has determined that the team's new single-year NCAA Academic Progress Rate figure will be at least 935 or better, according to USA Today last Wednesday.

Spokesman Kenny Klein said in an e-mail that while the APR figure is not yet official, the department had determined the numbers will surpass the threshold for the payment of the bonus.

Coach Bobby Petrino had met all the requirements for this award, which means that he is now assured of more than $860,000 in bonuses to go with his $3.875 million in basic compensation from the school for this season. And there is a high possibility that he will get more, per this website.

In other news, the University of Louisville Cardinals are eligible to play in a bowl game with a record of 8-1. If the Cardinals do play, Coach Bobby Petrino gets a bonus equal to 1/12th of his basic compensation, plus 1/12th of the APR bonus if gets it. So, a bowl appearance this season will give increase Petrino's bonus to $364,584.

Moreover, Coach Bobby Petrino struck a new deal last July where any time the Louisville Cardinals wins at least nine regular-season games, he gets a $50,000 bonus. Plus, Petrino's basic compensation is increased by $50,000. The Cardinals have a home-game match against the Wake Forest (6-3) this Saturday. This is followed by a match Houston (7-2) and Kentucky (5-4).

Coach Bobby Petrino's salary bonus can still increase if Cardinals are included in the top 25 in the final national rankings (they are No. 6 in this week's Amway Coaches Poll, No. 5 in the Associated Press media poll).