Historic contract details for Penn State wrestling icon made public

We’re now learning more details about Penn State wrestling great David Taylor’s monumental move to leave the NLWC and Happy Valley for the head coaching position at Oklahoma State this spring. According to new reports released over the weekend, the Cowboys made a historic offer to the former Nittany Lion and Olympic gold medalist.

First reported by Shooting pistols On Friday, Taylor’s contract with Oklahoma State runs for six years and is worth $6.45 million. The deal, signed by Taylor and the university administration this week, was made available on the Tusla World stands Salary database for employees in Oklahoma.

The ex-Penn State wrestler will earn $1 million this season, followed by $30,000 annual raises. Taylor’s salary in the final year of the deal, 2029-30, will be $1.15 million.

The contract also includes a one-time payment of $1 million and performance incentives ranging from a $10,000 bonus for each individual NCAA champion to an additional $125,000 for a team title.

He also receives perks such as a golf membership, tickets to the Cowboys football team, a luxury suite and tickets to wrestling matches against Oklahoma State.

Now that the details are public, David Taylor is believed to be the highest paid coach in college wrestling. The details of Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson’s contract are, of course, not public.

Along with its officers and directors, the university publicly reports the salaries of its 25 highest-paid employees as part of its annual Right-to-Know Law Report. Sanderson was not among those 25 employees for the most recent report, which was released in May for budget year 2022-23The limit for that list was $491,006.

The benchmark used for David Taylor is Iowa’s Tom Brands. The Hawkeyes’ head coach is making $700,000 this coming season and $800,000 in the final year of his deal in 2028-29.

Kraft: Sanderson, Penn State wrestling ‘don’t let anything stand in your way’

Though he’s not signed to a contract extension until 2022, Cael Sanderson would be more than justified in using David Taylor’s historic contract as evidence for a pay raise. And from the sounds of it, Nittany Lions athletic director Pat Kraft wouldn’t need much convincing.

In an interview recently released on the Big Ten Network, Kraft strongly praised Penn State’s wrestling program.

“I think they’re relentless. It’s one of the most remarkable programs I’ve ever been a part of. Cael and Casey (Cunningham) and Cody (Sanderson) and the staff; I mean the way it works is truly remarkable.

“All jokes aside, there is no satisfaction there. They came back after winning the National Championship and went straight back to the gym on Monday. There’s a laser focus on getting better and better. I think that’s part of what we’re talking about, that grinding to constantly evolve and get better and better.

“And they are the epitome of that, and they don’t let anything get in their way. And they just keep doing it in such a great way. They’re like that all the time, and it’s just kind of process-oriented. They just keep doing this and doing this and doing this.”

Penn State Wrestling is at the top of the college wrestling world in March for the third year in a row, having won 11 of the last 13 national championships. If they win the title again in 2025, Sanderson and the Nittany Lions will become the second program ever to claim three separate four-peats (2011-14, 2016-19).

David Taylor, who participated in Sanderson’s first four-year career, is the only program with his new employer Oklahoma State to accomplish the feat.

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