Southern Miss signed its football coach to a new contract. Here’s what has changed.

Southern Miss has agreed to a new four-year contract with head football coach Jay Hopson, giving him more favorable terms after he signed a somewhat unconventional deal when he first took over the program in January of 2016.

Hopson will continue to make a base salary of $500,000 a year in the new deal, which is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2022.

The improvements in the contract for Hopson will come from a decreased buyout on his end in the event that he leaves for another job and other incentives for ticket sales and performance.

“I’m pleased with his leadership and direction of our program,” USM athletic director Jon Gilbert said Saturday. “I think we have a very good coach that fits this university and our state.”

Here are some of the upgrades that Hopson will receive under the new contract:

▪ In the previous contract, Hopson would have owed USM a buyout of $2 million if he had left for a new coaching job at any point prior to Dec. 31, 2018. That figure has been decreased to 50 percent of the base salary for the remaining contract period.

▪ The Vicksburg native will receive a larger portion of ticket sales revenue if USM improves on recent figures. Hopson will get 50 percent of excess ticket revenue if sales surpass $2,370,000 for both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 fiscal years. That figure jumps to $2,500,000 in 2021 and $2,550,000 in 2022.

▪ Hopson also gets improved incentives for success on the field. A win over a Power 5 conference team has jumped from $15,000 to $25,000 and a finish in the College Football Playoff Top 25 has been bumped from $35,000 to $50,000.

The new contract requires that USM have a minimum annual budget of $1.225 million for Hopson’s assistants. That’s a slight bump for the group after the NCAA recently allowed schools to expand the number of on-field assistants from nine to 10. The previous contract had a salary pool of just north of $1 million for the assistants.

Hopson, who is entering his third year at USM, is 15-11 since he replaced Todd Monken as head coach in early 2016. Hopson was 32-17 during a four-year stretch at Alcorn State before taking the USM job.

USM opens the 2018 campaign with a home game against Jackson State on Sept. 1. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

This story was originally published August 25, 2018 at 2:25 PM.