Cash cows: 4 FBS head coaching vacancies reveal skyrocketing buyout numbers
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There are now 4 Power 5 college football jobs already open with news breaking Sunday that Colorado had fired Karl Dorrell.
And it’s only Oct. 2.
Firing coaches is never easy. But it has become even more complicated in recent years due to the buyout figures that are being included in many contracts.
Sports Illustrated college football writer Ross Dellenger took to Twitter on Sunday to shine a light on the staggering sums of money that Athletic Departments are spending to make these moves.
It’s eye opening to say the least.
In 2021, more than $94 million was spent buying out the contracts of coaches who were terminated from their jobs, led by the $17 million that LSU spent to relieve Ed Orgeron of his duties and the $12 million that Florida spent to get rid of Dan Mullen.
That lofty number from a year ago could easily be surpassed in 2022.
With Dorrell out at Colorado, Scott Frost out at Nebraska, Herm Edwards out at Arizona State, and Geoff Collins out at Georgia Tech, those buyouts alone amount to more than $46 million.
There’s certain to be more coaches who lose their jobs as the season progresses or after its completion.
If there was ever a reminder that college football is big business, here it is:
2022 coaching buyout tracker is live! Last year, schools spent about $94.4M on coaching buyouts. What price will this year reach?
Five weeks in, we've already reached $46.5 million.
Frost: $15M
Dorrell: $11.4M
Collins: $11.3M
Edwards: ~$8M https://t.co/mx3yeFi7tR— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 2, 2022
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
