CHAMPAIGN — Basketball coach John Groce could earn twice as much money next year from the school that fired him than from his new employer.
Groce will be paid $350,000 annually for his first two years at the University of Akron, which hired him last week to head the men's basketball program, according to documents provided to The News-Gazette by the school.
But the University of Illinois, which fired Groce on March 11, still owes him the balance of between that money and his $1.7 million buyout, according to his contract.
Groce's contract called for the UI to pay him twice his $400,000 annual base salary (or $800,000) for each of the two years remaining on his contract, on a per monthly basis.