FIU Head Coach Randy Horner Receives Contract Extension Through 2027, Big Raise

Florida International head women’s swimming & diving coach Randy Horner has received a contract extension and a substantial raise that will keep him in Miami through the 2026-2027 season.

Horner’s prior contract was set to expire at the end of the 2022-2023 season and was valued at $88,000 per year. The new deal, back-dated to the start of the 2022-2023 season, will run through April 30, 2027 and comes with it a new salary of $98,000 per year. That represents an 11.4% raise since his last contract took effect about 19 months ago.

The new contract includes an escalating retention bonus paid on October 1 each year. In 2022, that bonus was $4,000, in 2023 that bonus would be $6,500, in 2024 it would be $9,000, in 2025 it would be $11,500, and in 2026 it would be $14,000.

The new contract also comes with an increase in potential incentive-based performance bonuses.

Old Contract New Contract
APR Tier 1 >=960, $2,000 >=985, $2,500
APR Tier 2 (not cumulative) >=1000, $4000 >=1000, $5,000
GPA Tier 1 >=3.1, $2,500 >=3.0, $2,500
GPA Tier 2 (not cumulative) >=3.5, $5,000 >=3.5, $5,000
Conference Championships $5,000 $2,000
Consecutive Championships* $1,000
NCAA Tier 1 Top 20, $10,000 Top 25, $15,000
NCAA Tier 2 (not cumulative) Top 10, $15,000 Top 10, $20,000
NCAA Tier 3 (not cumulative) Top 4, $20,000 Top 4, $25,000
Team NCAA Title $25,000 $50,000
Individual Finishes Top 20 at NCAAs $2,000 $2,000
Individual NCAA Champion $5,000 $5,000
Individual NCAA Qualifier $1,000 $1,000
Individual Zones Qualifier $500
Conference Coach of the Year $2,000 $5,000
Generates over $25,000 in fundraising $2,000 $2,000

The one to take special note of is the consecutive conference championships bonus. This rider essentially carries an escalating bonus for winning consecutive conference titles. The example given in the contract is that if the team wins in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Horner would receive $1,000 in 2024 and $2,000 in 2025.

The existing streak will not be included, but FIU entered the 2022-2023 season having won eight consecutive championships in Conference USA. Titles will get tougher in 2023, however, as FIU women’s swimming has moved to the American Athletic Conference. While that conference will change substantially in the next few seasons, this year it includes teams like Houston, SMU, Rice, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, Tulane, Cincinnati, and East Carolina.

That new conference takes the top two teams, and four of the best five teams, from the old Conference USA and joins with the best teams from the AAC.

FIU finished 36th at the 2022 NCAA Championships where freshman Christie Chue finished 14th in the 200 breaststroke for three points. Diver Maha Gouda also represented the Panthers at NCAAs.

Horner first became coach of the Panthers in 2010. Since then, he has coached 8 conference swimmers of the year and 6 conference divers of the year. He is also a 7-time recipient of the Conference USA Coach of the Year award, including each of the last three seasons.

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Richard Sybesma
1 year ago

Coach Horner has done a wonderful job and has an outstanding program at FIU. Well deserved.

Former Big10
1 year ago

Looks very reasonable.

Coach ID
1 year ago

THAT is a bonus structure that speaks to swimming! I’d be willing to bet a lot of mid major coaches would like that criteria for bonuses, even for half those dollar amounts. Applause to the AD and sport admin for committing to the sport and Randy!

Meeeee
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

Jim Harbaugh receives $500k for defeating Ohio State

Former Big10
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

How much of an athletic departments budget can be covered through donations, if any? I know some programs have scholarships that are covered, but what about salaries (Stanford comes to mind).

NONA
1 year ago

This is a very interesting view behind the curtain. Thanks

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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