It’s been nearly a week since the details of Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell’s contract were reported by many outlets, including the Daily.

The contract, which took effect on January 1, 2018, will pay Campbell $3.5 million per season through 2023. Campbell’s contract keeps him as the seventh-highest paid coach in the Big 12, as far as known salaries are concerned (Baylor is not required to release contract information as a private school).

Examining the details of his contract has led to a few interesting takeaways. Let’s walk through some of the interesting storylines as Campbell heads into his third season with the Cyclones.

Campbell’s future is tied to Pollard’s

As has been frequently reported, Campbell’s buyout will get cut in half in the event that Athletic Director Jamie Pollard leaves the program. The buyout number cannot go under $2 million, but it still serves as an insurance policy for Campbell.

Campbell has no shortage of suitors, as his name was bandied about for the Nebraska and Tennessee openings after the 2017 season. The $7 million buyout he has for the 2018 season will keep him at Iowa State for the foreseeable future, but if Pollard leaves, everything changes.

Many coaches are tied to their AD when taking a head coaching job, and that’s no different in this case. It’s likely that, if Pollard were to leave/retire, Campbell wouldn’t be long for Iowa State unless the Cyclones made a good hire at his position.

Campbell (probably) won’t leave after 2018 (but Ohio State and Notre Dame loom large)

As mentioned before, the $7 million buyout likely ties Campbell to Iowa State past 2018. He’s often mentioned that he likes what he’s building with the Cyclones and the new contract adds a lot of stability to the program.

Campbell won’t just leave for any head coaching job, but there are two jobs that may come open in the next two or three years (when his buyout shrinks to $5 million in 2021 and $4 million in 2022) that should make Cyclone fans nervous: Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Campbell has well-documented ties to Ohio, having played his college ball at Mount Union and coaching at Toledo before coming to Ames. It stands to reason that, as an Ohio kid, the Ohio State job holds a high degree of prestige for Campbell. It’s one of the best jobs in college football. Urban Meyer is still the head coach, but if he were to retire soon, Campbell would be high on the Buckeyes’ list of candidates.

Notre Dame is a similar situation, as Brian Kelly and the Irish have had some tension over the past couple of years. He’s flirted with NFL jobs before, and Notre Dame fans have not been his biggest supporters for some time now. The Midwestern connections Campbell has makes it likely he would be linked with the Irish as well.

The high buyout is a deterrent to those big schools, but it wouldn’t be insurmountable.

Bonus structure emphasizes Big 12 success

Campbell doesn’t have a Kirk Ferentz-esque wins benchmark in his contract, but he does get some pretty hefty bonuses if he leads the Cyclones to big 12 success.

His contract states that if the Cyclones were to win the Big 12 Championship, Campbell would be in line for a $500 thousand bonus. For the purpose of context, that’s a full $400 thousand more than he would make for winning the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. He also would get $250 thousand for just appearing in the Big 12 Championship game as the first-place team, and $100 thousand for appearing in the game at all.

It’s a surprising structure, but it puts into focus what Pollard and Iowa State really want from Campbell: sustained top-half finishes in the Big 12. The Cyclones are a program that’s trying to build out of a reputation of being a consistent loser, and they’re putting as many incentives as they can on being a good Big 12 team for years to come.