As the University of Central Arkansas moves up to NCAA Division I status and joins the Southland Athletic Conference, UCA executed a contract agreement with Head Football Coach Clint Conque to extend his tenure at least through the end of 2011.
“I was very impressed and pleased that UCA finished with an 8-3 record and in the national Top 25 during our first year competing at the Division I level,” said UCA President Lu Hardin. “Coach Conque has made the transition to Division I and provided excellent leadership as we begin to compete in the Southland conference.”
“I am very pleased that President Hardin and our administration has confidence in the direction the football program is headed,” Conque said. “I really believe that this makes a strong statement about the stability and the long-term direction of, as well as the commitment to, our football program.”
Conque has been UCA’s Head Football Coach since 2000 and has compiled an 52-29 overall record for a .650 winning percentage under his leadership. Last year, during UCA’s debut in Division I, the football team defeated six-time national champions Georgia Southern and notched road conference victories over Stephen F. Austin and Top-25-ranked Sam Houston State. UCA football also set the single-game attendance record last year. In 2005, Conque was named the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Nicholls State University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Under the terms of his new contract, Conque’s annual salary is $114,805, although it may be increased or supplemented with private contributions or from the proceeds of private contributions designated for that purpose.
The contract also includes performance incentives. If the football team has a winning season, Conque will receive a bonus equal to the team’s winning percentage multiplied by the value of his salary for one month. And while the team may be ineligible to win a conference championship as it makes the transition to Division I, if it wins the “equivalent” of a conference championship under Conque (defined as finishing with the best win-loss record in the conference), Conque will receive an additional bonus equal to one-half of his monthly salary.
