Inside Bob Dunn’s New CSU Contract

On April 11th, Cleveland State hired Bob Dunn as its new women’s basketball coach, replacing Chris Kielsmeier.

Dunn, in some sense, has been charged with building on the success that Kielsmeier established over the last eight years. That seems to be reflected in his new deal with CSU, which looks similar to what was already in place in most respects.

The information shared below comes from a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Dunn and the university, which was obtained through a public records request. Dunn’s full employment contract, though not finalized at the time of the request, will be built from the agreed-upon terms in the MOU.

Here are the takeaways from that agreement.

The Basics

Dunn’s contract will pay him $195,000 per year in base salary over a five-year term, running through the 2030-31 season. That’s not a great departure from CSU’s previous expense in the category, as Kielsmeier’s final salary with the Vikings was $215,000, a number billed as the second highest among the Horizon League’s women’s basketball head coaches. However, it’s worth pointing out that the former coach made $190,000 for each of the two years prior to 2025-26, when he received a raise, thanks to a new extension.

Bonuses

Of course, the new coach will have plenty of opportunities to earn bonuses tacked on to that base salary. For starters, he’ll receive an annual $35,000 “program bonus” for meeting a series of off-court criteria, including the absence of NCAA or university policy violations, and meeting the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) minimums.

He can receive up to $50,000 annually in team performance bonus money, which comes through accomplishments like a Horizon League Tournament title ($15,000), a 20-win season ($2,500), a conference coach of the year award ($10,000), an appearance in the WBIT ($2,500) or WNIT ($1,500), and several other, less-likely outcomes (should the Vikings win the national championship, the related $25,000 bonus isn’t subject to the $50,000 cap).

Finally, there are a series of academic bonuses, tied to things like the team’s APR and grade point average (GPA), as well as selections to the HL’s All-Academic Team and Honor Roll. Those payments include $12,500 for a perfect APR, $5,000 for a GPA above 3.0, and $10,000 for an academic all-conference pick.

Buyout

For a mid-major coach, the buyout is one of the most important numbers in the contract – arguably the most important in some respects.

A large buyout figure can dissuade other schools from poaching a successful head coach, versus a similarly-qualified candidate elsewhere that might not have that extra cost attached. After all, as the old adage goes, you don’t have to outrun the bear, just the guy next to you.

Here is Dunn’s buyout schedule:

• 4/11/2026 through 4/30/2027: The contract’s remaining aggregate base salary
• 5/1/2027 through 4/30/2028: $500,000
• 5/1/2028 through 4/30/2029: $350,000
• 5/1/2029 through 4/30/2030: $200,000

Those far exceed Kielsmeier’s figures. In his 2022 contract extension, the new Texas State coach’s buyout began at $150,000 and tapered down to zero by the summer of 2025. Kielsmeier’s 2023 extension retained that 2022 schedule, while his final contract at CSU, signed last year, reset the buyout to a mere $25,000. That number is obviously more than nothing, what it would have been under the terms of his previous deal, though it barely qualified as a speed bump for any school with reasonably-deep pockets.

In other words, Cleveland State will likely be able to retain Dunn for the life of the contract, save for some renegotiation down the line. Of course, that coin has two sides, as the university would be on the hook for the remaining salary promised by the contract, should it want to make a change before its term is up.

Staff Pool

Dunn will have $284,000 per year available to pay four full-time assistant coaches, along with a full-time director of basketball operations. He’ll also be able to add a part-time administrative assistant or a graduate assistant outside of that pool (in recent years, that’s manifested as a video coordinator, a position filled by Carolyn Wochele this past season).

That number is essentially identical to the previous budget ($282,000), though Kielsmeier successfully negotiated that number up from $256,500 in 2022-23.

Guarantee Games

The contract requires Cleveland State to schedule guarantee games “resulting in not less than $45,000 in gross revenue income to the university…unless otherwise approved by the Director of Athletics.”

That last clause is rather significant; Kielsmeier’s guarantee figure last season was $40,000, but CSU’s non-conference schedule fell short of that number. Northwestern paid the Vikings $27,000 for their November 21, 2025 contest, while a game at Cal State Fullerton two weeks earlier produced a $5,000 check.