With an emotional, historic news conference underneath Commonwealth Stadium on Wednesday, the tenure of Joker Phillips as the 36th football coach in program history finally began.That you already know. But with any new coach comes a new contract and new salary. Phillips jokingly (and classically) downplayed the contract when he was asked about the details Wednesday.”Mitch is paying me a lot of money to run this program,” Phillips said.Then, with almost perfect timing, Phillips paused, turned to his left and looked at Barnhart.”Hold on once second,” Phillips said. “You are paying me a lot of money, (right)? I hope this isn’t a community service job.”Barnhart played his part.”Based on what I signed, I think we’re good,” Barnhart said.All joking aside, Phillips will be paid handsomely and deservingly for taking over the reins of the football program. Phillips will make $1.7 million annually for the next five years, plus incentives. Phillips will make a base salary of $400,000 annually, but an additional $1.3 million for participation in radio and television programs and athletically related endorsements, including endorsement of athletic footwear, apparel and equipment, will bring the total deal to $1.7 million, with a chance to make more, based on incentive-base performances.Those incentives include Phillips’ performances in the Southeastern Conference (including wins in the SEC, claiming the SEC East title and winning the outright league), bowl appearances, and academic and graduation performance. If Phillips were to fulfill all accomplishments, he could make up to an additional 1.1 million in a year. It did not take long for either side to come to an agreement. Barnhart estimated they were in negotiations for maybe an hour.”It wasn’t about (the money),” Barnhart said. “You get to a stop (where) it’s not about that. You want to be fair to him. You want to be fair, you want to make sure everybody is squared away and compensated properly, but at the end of the day this is about an opportunity to be the head coach in the Southeastern Conference at the University of Kentucky.”