The new VCU Basketball coach, Phil Martelli Jr., is, as expected, getting paid a smidge less than his predecessor, Ryan Odom, who left the school for the job with UVA Basketball.
Martelli’s five-year deal, a copy of which we obtained from VCU Athletics on Tuesday, calls for him to be paid $1.455 million in Year 1, for the 2025-2026 season, with $100,000 annual raises in Years 2-5 of the deal.
Note: VCU Athletics just gave us a copy of the Martelli contract.
Didn’t make us play the Freedom of Information Act game, unlike the folks at another athletics department which I won’t name here.
Ahem.
Martelli signed a five-year contract, which runs through the 2029-2030 season, on April 9.
Odom’s VCU contract had him being paid $1.7 million in his Year 1, for the 2023-2024 season, with $100,000 annual raises in his Years 2-6, in a deal that was set to end in 2029.
Odom left VCU after a two-year run with a 52-21 record and one NCAA Tournament appearance.
His six-year deal at UVA calls for him to be paid $3.25 million in Year 1 of his deal, with $100,000 annual raises that push his total compensation in the final year of the deal, in the 2030-2031 season, at $3.75 million.
ICYMI
- We have Ryan Odom’s UVA offer sheet: Still questions remaining to be answered
- It won’t cost much to buy out Ryan Odom’s VCU deal
Back to Martelli and VCU: the buyout for Martelli if he were to leave early, which happens a lot to the folks in VCU Athletics, that they hire a really good coach who does a really good job and then is snatched up by a big boy, is noticeably low, at just $1 million in Years 1 and 2.
It’s almost like they’re inviting one of the big boys to come in and poach their guy.
More about Martelli: he’s 43, and the son of, obviously, the other Phil Martelli, who had a 444-328 record and seven NCAA Tournament appearances in 24 seasons as the head coach at Saint Joseph’s, an A-10 rival of VCU.
The younger Martelli played for his dad from 1999-2003, then immediately went into college coaching, serving stints as an assistant at Central Connecticut, Manhattan, Niagara and Delaware before landing as an assistant at Bryant in 2018.
Martelli was elevated to the head coach job there in 2023, and led Bryant to a 20-13 record in his Year 1 and a 23-12 record this past season.
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Chris Graham
