"It wasn't like this guy was going to ask for the moon, and if we didn't give it he was going to walk away," North Carolina State athletic director Lee Fowler said.

O'Brien also joins Virginia's Al Groh as the two ACC coaches who receive a bonus for finishing the season ranked, with the payout for the N.C. State coach ranging from $200,000 for a top-five ranking to $50,000 for finishing between Nos. 16-20.

O'Brien votes in the coaches' poll and insists he will neither stump for votes nor be tempted to boost his team's ranking for a bigger check.

"If we deserve to be Top 25, we'll be voted there," O'Brien said.

For a few coaches, some defeats are more costly than others. A clause in Chan Gailey's contract at Georgia Tech calls for his assistants to receive $5,000 apiece if the Yellow Jackets beat rival Georgia which they failed to do in 2006.

Maryland faced Wake Forest in last year's regular-season finale, and a win would have earned the Terrapins a spot in the ACC title game and Friedgen a chance to collect a $330,750 bonus. But when the Demon Deacons won, Maryland dropped into a three-way tie for fourth place.

Friedgen still gets a bonus, with the amount determined by an intricate sliding scale all the way down to $23,152 if the Terps reach a bowl game and finish in a four-way tie for sixth place.

Last season he got $49,612.50. His assistants also earn bonuses on a similar sliding scale.

"The Wake Forest loss, our coaches lost a lot of money on that game we went from potentially first to (fourth)," Friedgen said. "That's a big hit for them."

--Associated Press