Neuheisel was able to hire Chow in 2008 because of some creative negotiating. When UCLA hired Chow, he was due $1 million over each of the next two years -- 2008 and 2009 -- from the Tennessee Titans, who fired him after he'd signed a two-year contract extension. Chow's base salary with UCLA his first two seasons was a manageable $250,000 plus a $50,000 talent fee.
But Chow's three-year contract with UCLA was backloaded because of his Titans contract, which deducted his UCLA salary but paid him the remainder of his $1 million annual salary. In 2010, his deal with the Titans over, Chow is due a $140,000 talent fee as well as a $250,000 retention bonus on top of his base salary.
That retention bonus will be paid to Chow on the first day of spring practices, according to a 2008 report on the contract in the Los Angeles Daily News.
