Ryan Day and the members of his on-field football coaching staff are due $1.78 million in combined bonuses for Ohio State’s berth in the Cotton Bowl as part of annual performance incentives provided by their contracts.

The Buckeyes on Sunday received a bid to the bowl game, a matchup with Missouri on Dec. 29, after they did not make the College Football Playoff.

The language in their employment agreements, as obtained by The Dispatch through public-records requests, leaves them eligible for bonuses if they appear in one of the New Year’s Six bowl games.

Day, who received a pay raise earlier this year to increase his compensation package for this season to nearly $10.2 million, is owed a $200,000 bonus, while the 10 assistant coaches get bonuses that are equal to 17% of their base salaries.

More than half of the assistants are receiving six-figure bonuses as a result, led by Jim Knowles, the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach who is to pick up $332,690 and Brian Hartline, the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach who is to bring in $272,000.

Defensive line coach Larry Johnson is set to add $198,388 in bonuses, while offensive line coach Justin Frye and secondary coach Tim Walton each earn $170,000 and running backs coach Tony Alford adds $131,325.

Among the rest of the on-field staff, safeties coach Perry Eliano picks up $87,550, special teams coach Parker Fleming sees $85,000, quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis gets $70,040 and tight ends coach Keenan Bailey brings in $68,000.

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The bonus total is a dip from last season, when Day and his on-field assistants earned $2.13 million for reaching the College Football Playoff.

In all of the previous seasons of Day’s tenure, they had received at least $2 million in incentives due to playoff appearances or higher finishes in the Big Ten.

The staff would have made twice as much from bonuses had they defeated Michigan on Nov. 25 and went on to win the conference and make playoff.

Day would have been up for $400,000 and staff would have been in lien for bonuses equal to 34% of salaries, including 8.5% for a Big Ten East title, 4.25% for a win in the conference title game and 21.25% for a semifinal appearance.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on Facebook and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He can also be contacted at jkaufman@dispatch.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State coach Ryan Day, assistants due bonuses for Cotton Bowl bid