Earlier in the week, USA Today released a detailed chart of college football coaches’ salaries, as well as their buyouts.
The chart also factored in bonuses for every FBS coach.
High-end salaries for coaches are one thing — Alabama’s Nick Saban makes over $11 million per year — but it’s some of these buyouts that are most incredibly insane.
Buyouts include the money that schools owe to coaches if they elect to fire them before their respective contracts are up.
Here are the 10 largest buyouts in college football right now, according to the report:
1. Dabo Swinney (Clemson) — $40 million
2. Jimbo Fisher (Florida State) — $39.3 million
3. Chris Petersen (Washington) — $30.7 million
4. Nick Saban (Alabama) — $26.9 million
5. Kirk Ferentz (Iowa) — $22.5 million
6. James Franklin (Penn State) — $21.9 million
7. Urban Meyer (Ohio State) — $21.3 million
8. Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) — $20.6 million
9. Tom Herman (Texas) — $20.4 million
10. Bronco Mendenhall (Virginia) — $17.4 million
So, if Clemson decided to fire Swinney out of the blue, it would have to pay him… 40. Million. Dollars. That is an astronomical amount of money.
As far as the rest of the SEC coaches not named Saban, here’s what their buyout figures looks like:
Mark Stoops (Kentucky) — $14.8 million
Jim McElwain (Florida) — $12.9 million
Kirby Smart (Georgia) — $10.8 million
Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M) — $10.4 million
Ed Orgeron (LSU) — $8.8 million
Butch Jones (Tennessee) — $8.1 million
Will Muschamp (South Carolina) — $7.2 million
Gus Malzahn (Auburn) — $6.9 million
Bret Bielema (Arkansas) — $5.9 million
Barry Odom (Missouri) — $1.5 million
Matt Luke (Ole Miss) — $1.4 million
Dan Mullen (Mississippi State) — not listed
Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) — not listed
Cody McClure is an SEC Football Writer for Saturday Down South. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he also co-hosts a midday sports radio show for FOX Sports. Cody previously worked for Athlon Sports.
