The Checks Will Be in the Mail

Bob Toledo’s contract as football coach at UCLA had six years left, at $578,000 a year, but that does not mean UCLA will pay him the $3.468 million that adds up to. Nor will Toledo be homeless and destitute soon.

His contract was a rollover deal, meaning it kept adding a year each year, as long as he stayed and the school wanted him to stay.

But once the school stopped wanting, as was announced Monday afternoon by Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, the payoff portion of the rollover deal kicked in. And that meant:

* Toledo’s buyout, if he doesn’t work anywhere else for the next six years, will be $1.34 million.

* The $1.34 million breaks down to the full $578,000 for next year -- including salary, media-appearance money and his portion of the school’s shoe contract with Adidas -- plus five years to complete the six-year deal, but at his base salary of $153,000 a year.

According to UCLA spokesman Marc Dellins, the deal also holds a provision for reductions in the total payout once Toledo gets another job. For example, if he gets an assistant’s job for $53,000 some year, UCLA will pay him $100,000 that year.

Guerrero said that although UCLA is a public institution, supported for the most part by tax dollars, Toledo’s buyout, obviously funded while the school is paying its new coach at the same time, will be handled by the athletic department budget. Thus, no tax money is tapped here, at least not directly.

Guerrero said Bruin finances could handle this football-coaching double dip.

“We are in a healthy state in that regard right now,” he said.

The Bruin athletic department operates on a $40-million annual budget, and Guerrero said that was funded entirely by ticket revenue, television rights revenue, about $2 million in student fees, and donations.

Although Guerrero didn’t address it directly as the case here, the donation category is where wealthy alums can contribute to the cause, in boosting the amount available for a new coach or making sure the athletic director can afford to fire the old one.