I recently found myself trying to explain to a French academic why an American head football coach at a state’s flagship university is typically the highest-paid public employee in that state. He understood English fine, but my words made little sense to someone from a country where universities don’t fund semiprofessional athletic programs. But even more outrageous than the amount college coaches get paid to man the sidelines of the gridiron is the amount they get paid to go away.
Even more outrageous than the amount college coaches get paid to man the sidelines of the gridiron is the amount they get paid to go away.
Texas A&M fired head coach Jimbo Fisher last weekend, but because of the terms Fisher had negotiated in his contract, the school is now on the hook to pay him $77 million, which The Associated Press says is “the highest paid to a coach in college sports history.” Other failed-and-fired football coaches have similarly benefited from massive buyouts. Mississippi State could owe first-year coach Zach Arnett up to $4.5 million after it fired him this week. The University of Texas knew it would owe Tom Herman as much as $15.4 million when it fired him in 2021. To let football coach Will Muschamp go in 2020, South Carolina was willing to shell out $12.9 million, and Auburn was on the hook for up to $21.5 million to coach Gus Malzahn when it fired him that same year.
We don’t have to wait until a coach is fired to know how much he’ll get if he’s fired. Lucrative buyout clauses are typically negotiated before coaches even agree to come. The University of Georgia, whose Bulldogs are the reigning national champions, could owe Kirby Smart $92.5 million if it fired him now. James Franklin at Penn State would be owed up to $64.5 million. Dabo Sweeney, who coaches at Clemson, would be owed up to $64 million. The list goes on. In its story, the AP lists the current buyout amounts for 10 active college football head coaches.
Those buyout amounts…
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