Money Talks: How do schools afford financing coaching buyouts?
Many schools and athletic programs have decided to part ways with their coaches, even though it is not even halfway through the college football season. Some notable schools include University of Nebraska (Scott Frost), Georgia Institute of Technology (Geoff Collins), University of Colorado (Karl Dorrell), Arizona State University (Herm Edwards) and most surprisingly University of Wisconsin (Paul Chryst).
It’s understandable why these schools made these decisions, as USC took a similar path last year, firing Clay Helton in September 2021. This gave USC more time to find the next coach for their future and hold on to any recruits for the following season. With this season’s lineup of firings, all of these schools are going to be taking a careful look at who the best person is to lead their respective football programs moving forward. This is especially true with some strong college football head coaches on the market now, like Matt Rhule (who just got fired from the Carolina Panthers on Monday.)
However, how do schools afford to make such decisions, especially because these coaching contracts typically exceed millions of dollars? For instance, when Frost got fired from Nebraska after losing to Georgia Southern 42-45 (led by Clay Helton, ironically), the school had to buy out his large contract. By firing him this September, they had to pay $15 million, rather than $7.5 million if they waited until October.
Even though we know schools’ athletic budgets are extremely high, these amounts are not minuscule at all for any program. Typically when it comes to these urgent changes, the schools can convince their boosters to fund part or all of the bill. Essentially, boosters are individuals and/or groups who fundraise and donate money to the schools for their athletics programs. Another important aspect of boosters is that they can act fast because they can typically give money whenever they want, making it optimal for these large buyouts.
However, these boosters have made contract negotiations between coaches and schools much tougher, especially when it comes to buyouts. Since coaches know that the schools can get the money whenever they want to fire them through boosters, buyout levels are greatly increasing.
Mel Tucker, the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans, took the team to an impressive 11-2 record last season, winning the Peach Bowl; however, their season has been underperforming this season with a 2-4 record and zero wins in conference play. There is a low chance that the school will fire Tucker, because they signed him a $95 million fully guaranteed deal last season and will have to pay that remaining amount for his buyout.
Similarly, Jimbo Fisher, the head coach of Texas A&M, recently had one of the strongest recruiting classes of 2022. Now, he is also not performing as strongly as well, losing games to teams such as Appalachian State at home and having a 3-3 record; yet once again, Fisher’s job is going to stay intact for many years barring any severe issues. This is because they would have to pay almost $86 million if they fire him this year, and this amount goes down to only $39.2 million if they wait until 2027. Both are extremely high dollar amounts and will take a lot of funding to finance.
Overall, when thinking about these coaching buyouts, they do seem costly, but they can also help the team position itself for success in the future, as witnessed by USC with the eventual hiring of Head Coach Lincoln Riley. On the other hand, since coaches know that boosters will fund these buyouts, they will negotiate higher-paying contracts to make it more difficult for them to get fired, putting us at a standstill.