Contract details for new Maryland men's basketball head coach Buzz Williams released

With president Darryll Pines and interim AD Colleen Sorem signed off, contract details for new Maryland men’s basketball head coach Buzz Williams have been officially released with a six-year deal in place. Inside the Black and Gold has obtained the memorandum of understanding through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Williams is set to earn $4.8 million in 2025-26, including $500,000 base salary, with a $100,000 raise each season. He also receives a one-year extension following Maryland's next NCAA Tournament appearance, per contract details. Williams also receives a one million dollar bonus if retained on April 15, 2031.

Though annual incentives will not exceed $950,000, Williams also receives annual incentives for performance goals, including:

Big Ten regular season champ: $100K (outright), $75K (tie)
Big Ten conference tournament champion: $75K
NCAA Tournament bid: $25K
Round of 32: $25K
Sweet Sixteen: $150K
Elite Eight: $150K
Final Four: $250K
National Championship appearance: $350K
National Champion: $600K
Big Ten Coach of the Year: $50K
National Coach of the Year: $50K

Williams also received a $75,000 stipend for moving expenses while standard details, such as a monthly car allowance ($2,400) and cell phone stipend ($120) are also included with buyout details set as followed:

$10,500,000 if the termination occurs before April 1,2026;
$8,500,000 if the termination occurs between April 1,2026 aud March 31, 2027
$3,500,000 if the termination occurs between April 1,2027 and March 31, 2028
$2,500,000 if the termination occurs between April 1,2028 and March 31, 2029
$1,000,000 if the termination occurs between April 1,2029 and March 31,2030
$0 if the termination occurs April 1,2030 or after

Maryland is also owed 100% of the remaining annual guaranteed compensation if Buzz is fired without cause and owes nothing if fired with cause.

Buzz Williams was officially announced as the program’s head coach on April 1, one before his introductory press conference inside the Xfinity Center.

“What I think I'm supposed to say at a press conference is we want to play really fast,” Williams said of the team’s expected play style. “We want to score more points than the other team. We all want to clap and give great hugs and dap. I think what I've learned as a coach is in this ever-changing model, you have to have skill to be able to coach a lot of different ways. And I think the coaches that I've studied, that are married to their style, I don't know that that's sustainable and what this model has become. And so similar to Gene's question, who's on the team? I don't know, but what's important from an intangible standpoint, on being in our locker room and the pace at which we work and the carrot, which is intended for the process, we've adapted our style of play at each institution. We haven't been great, but we've been fairly consistent and we have walked into scenarios where you were starting from ground zero and somewhat created and manufactured a way to be okay. And we always want to do better, but like how we played at Texas A&M was completely different than how we played at Virginia Tech. Different league, different scheduling, the NET wasn't involved, the pace. All of those things are different. But I also think that what we've done a little bit, some of the smart people on my staff the last 30 hours is I want to make a good decision on how the league what's important in the Big Ten. We've never coached in the Big Ten, so I want to have some context on what that is. I think the coach's job is to get the best players that fit the people you want to be around and then figure out how to put them in a position to be as successful as they can be.”

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