Jump to content



  • Photo: Photo/Tony Rotundo

    Photo: Photo/Tony Rotundo

    Oregon State awards Pendleton 5-year, $825K contract

    Chris Pendleton coaching at the Pac-12 Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    More often than not, the salary terms for a newly hired college wrestling coach -- including basic annual salary -- often seems to be a closely held secret.

    Take Chris Pendleton. At the end of the 2020 season, Pendleton was hired as head coach of the Oregon State wrestling program, replacing long-time head coach Jim Zalesky.

    Now, thanks to a public records request by The Oregonian -- the community newspaper for Portland, Oregon, and the rest of the state -- the college wrestling community around the world now knows the basics of Coach Pendleton's contract, including basic annual salary.

    Pendleton's contract runs five years -- through 2025 -- for an annual salary of $165,000, for a total value of $825,000. By comparison, Zalesky's annual salary his last year at Oregon State was $155,000.

    In addition, Pendleton annual salary through 2025 allows for increases at the discretion of athletic director Scott Barnes. What's more, Pendleton also received a $13,750 signing bonus.

    Pendleton will be in line for some performance bonuses as well. For example, the new head coach receives a $5,000 bonus if five or more wrestlers advance to the NCAA championships. There is a $5,000 bonus if OSU places among the top 20 in the team standings at the NCAAs, an additional $5,000 if the Beavers crack the top 10, and $7,500 for winning the national title.

    Winning Pac-12 and national coach of the year honors is worth a $3,000 bonus each. There are separate $3,000 academic bonuses for meeting team APR and grade point milestones.

    In recent weeks, Pendleton has assembled his OSU Beaver wrestling coaching staff. In mid-May, Oregon State announced that Isaiah Martinez and Nate Engel had joined the Oregon State coaching staff. In early June, Mike Kosoy, a former North Carolina State wrestler earlier in this decade, had been named to the new-look Oregon State wrestling program as a volunteer assistant coach.

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...