Big money among most Power Five schools has driven the cost of employing and firing college football head coaches to an astronomical level. Beyond that, standard contract language is insane.
No conversation about money and college football can begin before noting Alabama football and the $11 million dollars to be earned by Nick Saban in 2017. Even Nick said recently he is “probably not worth it” but most Alabama football fans will disagree.
Given the financial returns to the University of Alabama and the explosion of out-of-state enrollment in the Saban Alabama-Era, Nick Saban is a bargain. The same cannot be said for many other college football coaches. Value can and should be determined by each employer but it would be difficult to argue more than half of the 65 Power Five coaches are worth their compensation.
Assigning value begins with annual salaries and it is fair to contend schools must pay whatever the market bears. Being unwilling to do so means the most successful coaches will either never choose a lower-paying school or they will quickly exit for a better deal. Schools ante up on the front end because there is little choice.
The Contractual Buyout
College football has a bigger money problem than coaching salaries. That problem is the ‘buyout’ clause when a school chooses to fire its head coach. College football coaches can be fired ‘for cause’ but in the contracts of almost all Power Five head coaches, losing too many games is not grounds for ’cause’ termination.
Coaches get in trouble for legal and ethical reasons and they can be fired ‘for cause.’ If they are fired for being bad coaches whose teams lose too many games, a school must pay a buyout. Why do schools agree to such nonsense terms? Martin Greenberg, a Milwaukee-based sports attorney says,
"“There’s such tremendous pressure to generate revenues and win that basically these universities are sort of bending over contractually to get these coaches in the door. Euphoria sometimes overtakes objectivity and intelligence.”"
Where does the contract insanity lead?
The source for the following information is the latest annual coaches salary report compiled by USA Today.
Some buyouts are huge but not all are unjustified. FSU and Clemson have the coaches each school wants for the long haul. To dump Jimbo and Dabo, would cost FSU $39 million dollars and Clemson $40 million dollars. That is crazy money but the two schools have national championships to argue they made sound deals.
Let’s look at eight other schools and their head coach contracts. Each school is certainly entitled to make whatever legally-allowable deal they choose. That does not mean the deals make sense financially.
Kansas – Head Coach David Beatty
After the horrendous coaching decisions that preceded Beatty, perhaps the Jayhawks deserve a pass. They selected Beatty when he was an assistant coach and his pay is modest by 2017 standards. His record at Kansas is 3-28. That record should allow a school to terminate for lack of satisfactory performance. To fire Beatty for that reason will cost Kansas $3 million dollars.
Wyoming – Head Coach Craig Bohl
Wyoming followed an often suggested course of action and hired a winner. Bohl had won three straight FCS Championships at North Dakota State. In four seasons with the Cowboys, his record is 18-27. Firing him for that poor performance would cost Wyoming $9.4 million dollars.
Colorado – Mike MacIntyre
MacIntyre’s four-season record with Colorado is 24-35. The cost of termination for that poor performance is $13.4 million dollars.
Arizona State – Todd Graham
Graham has had some success in his six seasons at ASU. His record with the Sun Devils is 43-29. If that is not good enough for ASU, the cost of terminating his contract is $12.2 million dollars.
Texas Tech – Kliff Kingsbury
Kliff’s high-flying offense may be entertaining in Lubbock but his record is poor. In his fifth season, Kingsbury is 28-29. Terminating his contract will cost the Red Raiders $6.9 million dollars.
Tennessee – Butch Jones
Butch Jones has a winning record in his five Vols’ seasons (33-25). The problem is Butch’s teams have very little success against top teams. The dump-Butch fix for the Vols will cost $8.1 million dollars.
The interesting thing about the next two coaches is how much they earn for how little they deliver.
Arizona – Rich Rodriquez
In Rodriquez’s last nine seasons as a head coach at Michigan and Arizona, his record is 56-53. He makes $6 million dollars annually and it will cost Arizona $6.4 million dollars to terminate for poor performance. Many Alabama football fans shudder at the thought of how close Rich Rod came to becoming the Crimson Tide coach.
Michigan – Jim Harbaugh
Michigan fans love Jim Harbaugh. He will probably be the Wolverines head coach for many years. Even if he does not deliver B1G Ten championships, Michigan is stuck with him due to his buyout. Harbaugh will earn $20.5 million dollars during his first three Michigan seasons.
So far, that money has bought Michigan a 25-8 record and no championships. Against hated rivals, Michigan State and Ohio State, if Harbaugh drops to 1-5 after the 2017 season, firing him would cost Michigan $23 million dollars.
There is simply no other line of work where failing brings such handsome rewards. That is the nature of college football in 2017 and it can only be called insanity.
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