Kennen can also make bonuses on ticket sales, team grade point average and ASUN record
New UNF coach Bobby Kennen intends to make the most of his opportunity
Bobby Kennen is replacing Matthew Driscoll as the University of North Florida basketball coach. He said the system will remain largely the same.
Bobby Kennen will receive a $60,000 raise to become the University of North Florida’s interim men’s basketball coach.Kennen’s total compensation package for the 2025-26 season is $196,000, including his base salary and allowances.The university will decide after the 2025-26 season whether to retain Kennen or search for a new coach.
University of North Florida men’s basketball coach Bobby Kennen will get a $60,000 raise from his base salary as an assistant, according to the terms of his contract obtained on Sept. 3 by the Times-Union through a request under the Florida Public Records Act.
Kennen, who replaced Matthew Driscoll, will earn $170,000 for the 2025-26 season, with a $6,000 car allowance and two payments of $10,000, one this month and the other in March of 2026, for a total package of $196,000.
Kennen earned $110,000 per year under his most recent contract as an assistant coach to Driscoll, who left after 16 years in May to become an assistant at Kansas State. Driscoll signed a contract extension with UNF on April 3 that would have paid him $280,191 per year, and is making $550,000 at K-State under coach Jerome Tang.
Bonus structure includes GPA, ASUN titles
Kennen has a series of bonus opportunities, starting with two weeks’ base pay ($6,528) for the team grade point average reaching 3.0 or higher and an Academic Progress Rate of 985 or higher.
Kennen can also get two weeks’ pay for winning 20 regular-season games and 10 ASUN games, winning a division title and receiving an invitation to the NIT.
He will earn four weeks’ pay ($13,076) for winning the ASUN Tournament title, which earns him a spot in the NCAA Tournament, and an additional two weeks for winning an NCAA Tournament game. Finishing among the top 25 on the AP poll or the NCAA RPI will be worth $10,000, with $5,000 for a top-50 finish and $2,500 for a top-75.
Kennen will get a $1,000 bonus if he is named the ASUN Coach of the Year and $10,000 for a national Coach of the Year. He gets one week’s pay if the team wins a designated “money game” (either Florida, Tennessee, Gonzaga, Dayton or Miami on this year’s schedule).
There is also a $5,000 bonus if UNF sells 900 or more season tickets.
Bobby Kennen is coaching on an interim basis
Kennen, who played high school basketball at Ocala Forest and college basketball at Palm Beach Atlantic, is the UNF coach on an interim basis. Athletic director Nick Morrow said he will decide after the 2025-26 season whether to retain Kennen or open the job to other applicants.
If Kennen is not retained or is fired without cause, he will get a severance package of up to 20 weeks’ salary. His contract expires on June 30, 2026.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have a high-caliber coach in Bobby Kennen,” Morrow said during the May 22 news conference. “For the past 16 years, he has been a vital part of the program’s success, and I have every confidence in his ability to lead us forward.”
Ospreys lack experience
UNF, which went 15-17 overall and 8-10 in the ASUN last season, lost its two top players, Jasai Miles and Josh Harris, who transferred to Indiana.
Kennen has only four players who saw time for the Ospreys in 2024-25: guards Kamrin Oriol, Mason Lee and Dante Oliver, and forward Nestor Dyachok. Transfer guard Kent Jackson, an Episcopal graduate, played 32 games at Jacksonville University.
He has retained two other assistant coaches under Driscoll, Bruce Evans and Stephen Perkins.