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Hughes to pay Virginia Tech for coaching exit

While he'll be earning more at Oklahoma, Pete Hughes will owe Virginia Tech $165,308.

Associated Press

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione (left) hands Pete Hughes a commemorative bat and OU hat as Hughes is introduced Oklahoma's baseball coach on Thursday in Norman, Okla.

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Pete Hughes has reaped a hefty raise by leaving Virginia Tech for Oklahoma, but Hughes does have to pay Tech because of his exit.

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, who named Hughes his new baseball coach Thursday, said in a phone interview Friday that Hughes will reap $350,000 in total annual pay. That includes a base salary of about $210,000.

Hughes reaped $207,437 in total pay from Tech this year, including a base salary of $157,437.

Hughes had one year left on his Tech contract, which does have a buyout clause. He is required to pay Tech $165,308, which would have been his base salary in the final year of that deal.

Castiglione said Hughes, not OU, will pay the buyout.

Oklahoma made the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in 2010. The Sooners won the UVa regional in 2012 and beat the Hokies to win the Virginia Tech regional earlier this month.

“A lot of my staff saw him [at the Tech regional] and watched him in action and his team in action and the way his players absolutely loved playing for him,” Castiglione said. “It caught their attention, even though we had no idea at the time we’d be looking for a coach.”

Hughes steered Tech for seven years.

“Besides being a relentless recruiter, he’s a great motivator,” Castiglione said. “He really knows how to teach the game.

“[OU] is not a program that needs to be built up … but we’re trying to get better.

“He might be starting to build a program from a different stage than what he inherited at Trinity [Texas], Boston College or Virginia Tech, but he still has to build it, and build it for runs to Omaha.

“You look at what he’s accomplished with so little, you see how special of a coach he really is.”

He said Hughes had a “burning desire” to be a part of the Oklahoma program.

The Sooners have won two NCAA titles.

“The tradition is tough to look past,” Hughes said at OU his news conference Thursday, according to SoonerScoop.com. “This program is built to go to Omaha every year and built to win a national championship. I can’t apologize for having that high on my list professionally.”

Oklahoma appealed to Hughes for another reason.

“I’ve always wanted to coach at a school where you were the institution in the region,” Hughes said at his news conference, according to The Oklahoman. “This is the state university, and it’s in one of the most fertile baseball grounds in the country — Oklahoma, bordering Texas.”

Saturday, September 14, 2013