Kenny Payne is one of Kentucky Basketball’s biggest assets, and today, the program rewarded him with a three-year contract extension. As first reported by the Courier-Journal, Payne just signed a three-year deal that will pay him $900,000 per year through June 2021. Tony Barbee and Joel Justus also signed new one-year deals, Barbee’s for $440,000 and Justus’ for $230,000.
Payne was set to make $800,000 this season, making this a pretty impressive raise. Not only is he the highest paid assistant in the game, he makes more than many head coaches. Add in the fact that he can now coach his son, Zan, and that’s a lot of incentive to stick around until the right head coaching job comes along.