New head coach of Washington State Matt Leach will earn a base salary of $125,000 in his new job as director of the Cyclones women’s swimming and diving program.
This is an increase over the $110,000 base salary due to the outgoing head coach. Duane Sorenson in 2023, his final fiscal year as head of the program, which in itself marked the first time in 27 years as head of the program that his base salary reached six figures. It’s also about $20,000 more than Leach’s base salary at Washington state.
Leach officially arrived in Ames on May 1 after serving six seasons as head coach at Washington State.
With this salary, Leach is one of the highest-paid coaches in the country at schools that have an exclusively women’s program.
Leach’s contract also includes additional benefits such as a vehicle allowance and incentives for sporting performance.
Performance incentives
Note: The salary for one week is approximately $2,400.
Leach has four possible performance bonuses for his team’s results in the pool, which are cumulative. This means he will receive bonuses in points 2, 3 and 4 if his team wins the NCAA championship.
- For his team’s victory at the Big 12 Conference Swimming Championship, Leach receives a paycheck for four weeks.
- Leach will receive one week’s salary if his team finishes in the top 25 of the NCAA swimming championships.
- Leach will receive a week’s salary if his team finishes in the top 10 at the NCAA swimming championships.
- For his team’s victory at the NCAA national swimming championship, Leach receives a week’s salary.
Iowa State’s prospects in the Big 12 are changing dramatically this season as the University of Texas, the conference’s dominant program for the past decade, is moving to the SEC. Meanwhile, the University of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are joining the conference with women’s swimming programs. Arizona and Arizona State also have new head coaches this season.
Leach most recently served as head coach of Washington State, which like Iowa State is an all-women’s program, for six seasons. During his time at Washington State, Leach had an NCAA qualifier in every season, with the exception of the COVID cancellation. Last season Emily Lundgren reached a B final in swimming and finished 14th in the 200m breaststroke final, making her the program’s first NCAA finalist since 2007.
Before coming to Washington State in 2018, Leach spent three years at Indiana State, where he started the program in 2015 and led the team to competition during the 2016-17 season. Leach was named Missouri Valley Coach of the Year in 2017-18, the program’s second-ever season.
Before starting the program at Indiana State University, Leach spent six seasons at Wyoming, including the last four as the assistant head coach, working primarily with the sprinters. Leach began his coaching career at LSU as a graduate assistant and then spent two years as a volunteer assistant at LSU.
Leach was a student-athlete at Indiana University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental management in the winter of 2004. He earned his degree in environmental planning and management from LSU in 2007.
