Five point one million dollars buys a lot in a college athletic department.
At Western Michigan, the total contributions reported by the school in the 2025 fiscal year are higher than those reported in its FRS Report via the Extra Points Library. It is more than what six MAC schools spend on their men’s and women’s basketball programs combined. Oh, and it is more than the ASUN conference average for all coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses paid by a university entity.
And, potentially, it is what Western Michigan will receive because Dan Bartholomae became too successful to keep.
Bartholomae, who is leaving Western Michigan for Michigan State, signed his most recent contract extension on July 16, 2025. Buried … or perhaps more accurately, very intentionally placed … inside that agreement is one of the more fascinating athletic director buyout provisions you will find at any level P4 or G6.
Section 9.c reads:
c. You recognize that the University is making a highly valuable investment in the VPIA’s continued employment by entering into this Agreement and that its investment would be diminished if you were to resign or otherwise terminate employment prior to the expiration of your full term. Therefore, if you elect to terminate your employment prior to June 30, 2031, the buyout schedule as liquidated damages will be as follows and will be payable within 60 days of the date of your termination of employment:
i. Through June 2027 — $5,100,000
ii. July 2027-June 2028 — $4,250,000
iii. July 2028-June 2029 — $3,400,000
iv. July 2029-June 2030 — $850,000
v. July 2030-June 2031 — $500,000
Let’s just make sure you read the number again.
$5.1 million.
The language is almost as interesting as the amount. Western Michigan explicitly called Bartholomae’s continued employment a “highly valuable investment” and structured the contract accordingly.
A little more than a year later, that investment could produce a rather significant return.
One MAC contact smiled when I asked about the buyout.
“They knew this would happen, maybe not this soon, but they knew there would have been a windfall of cash at some point.”
That may be the most important phrase surrounding the number. Of course, this is still pending, because these numbers do sometimes get negotiated down. We also see schools build in unique clauses as part of those negotiations, whether it’s a future home game (VCU) from the departed coach’s new school or even a basketball component folded into a football agreement, albeit a little outdated (USC).
Could a Michigan State-at-Western Michigan hockey game become part of a negotiation here?
Maybe.
But I have a feeling this one stays pretty close to that number.
Bartholomae is extremely well respected within college athletics. I have never had the pleasure of getting to know him personally through industry circles or conventions, but I have also struggled to find someone who has something negative to say about him. In an industry that can breed plenty of ego and competition, that is no small compliment.
He had been sought after before. Bartholomae was reportedly among the candidates and targets during Michigan State’s previous athletic director search, the one that ultimately landed J Batt.
Western Michigan knew what it had … and his worth.
And instead of pretending its athletic director would never have another opportunity, WMU protected itself financially in case one eventually came along that was too good to turn down.
For Comps Sake
Michigan State itself offers a useful comparison.
When Batt was hired from Georgia Tech, Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press reported that Batt’s Michigan State contract included a $5 million buyout during its first two years, followed by $4 million in Year 3, $3 million in Year 4, and $2 million in Year 5.
That $5 million figure was later negotiated down to $3.95 million in July, according to The Free Press.
Michigan State also agreed to pay Georgia Tech approximately $2.002 million, along with the taxes associated with the payment, to cover the remainder of Batt’s previous contract.
No small potatoes here.
Yet Bartholomae’s Western Michigan agreement still stands out.
Consider a few other recent sitting athletic director-to-sitting athletic director moves.
Brian White, leaving FAU for Virginia Tech while entering the third year of the extension he signed in 2024, owes FAU $625,000, payable within 60 days.
Bryan Blair’s July 2025 Toledo extension calls for a $50,000 payment within 60 days in connection with his departure for Syracuse.
And for Fernando Lovo to leave New Mexico for Colorado, put his buyout at roughly $783,000.
Not that anybody is counting, but add up White, Blair and Lovo’s buyouts?
$1,458,000
Then back to Western Michigan:
$5.1 million.
So, What Does $5.1 Million Actually Mean?
That became the question filling my inbox and texts after the news, beyond the search for the next athletic director at UIW (interested? Reach out!)
Athletic directors asked for it. Agents asked for it. Ahem, even a few presidents mentioned it.
Some also wondered whether schools should begin looking at athletic directors or other athletics admin buyouts as a revenue-generation strategy.
We can save that one for another day — I have thoughts. Just remember, contracts work both ways: buyouts and guarantees.
But the better question today is what $5.1 million looks like inside Western Michigan’s actual athletic department.
According to Western Michigan’s 2025 financial reporting, available through the Extra Points Library, the Broncos reported $4,651,725 in total contributions.
The buyout is larger than that entire line item.
It is also nearly $2 million more than Western Michigan’s reported team travel spending.
Western Michigan Administration Deserves Some Credit, Too
None of this should overshadow why another Big Ten school would want Bartholomae in the first place.
Western Michigan won a national championship during his tenure. The Broncos piled up conference championships. Found success in the classroom and had fundraising success. His July 2025 extension elevated him into the top two highest-paid athletic directors in the MAC, alongside UMass’ Ryan Bamford. Depending on how you account for retention bonuses and other contract language, Bartholomae could even be considered the highest-paid by some measures. Either way, the two were in a league of their own in 2025-26, with both earning more than $700,000 in compensation while the rest of the MAC’s athletic directors were below $450,000.
The success has been real, and the compensation was extremely well deserved.
Perhaps even more impressive, Bartholomae navigated that success across two university presidents.
Leadership changes at the presidential level frequently reset the clock for an athletic director (and coaches). Priorities change. Reporting structures change. Expectations change. Sometimes the people change simply because new leadership wants its own people.
Bartholomae kept winning through it.
That deserves credit.
So does Western Michigan leadership.
There is an understandable temptation when a successful athletic director leaves a Group of Six institution for the Big Ten to frame the story entirely around what the departing school lost.
Western Michigan undoubtedly lost an accomplished leader.
But it also retained him long enough to win championships, raise money and build momentum. It compensated him like one of the MAC’s best athletic directors. And when it signed him to an extension, it recognized the reality that bigger programs would keep calling.
Western Michigan did not make Bartholomae impossible to hire.
It made him expensive to hire.
There is a big difference.
And if Section 9.c produces the $5.1 million contemplated when that contract was signed just 13 months ago, the Broncos will now have an opportunity few athletic departments at their level ever receive:
Turn the departure of a successful athletic director into another major investment in the program he helped build.
