Fisher tops $146M owed to fired Power 5 coaches

• Paula Lavigne, ESPN Personnel WriterNov 13, 2023, 08:33 PM ET

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  • Data expert and press reporter for ESPN’s Business and Investigative Unit.
  • Winner, 2014 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award; finalist, 2012 IRE broadcast award; winner, 2011 Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism; Emmy nominated, 2009.

Texas A&M’s record $76 million agreement buyout for fired football coach Jimbo Fisher accounts for more than half of the approximately $146 million Power 5 schools owe to fired head football coaches given that the start of the 2022 season, according to publicly available data.Fisher’s buyout is nearly triple the highest known coaching agreement buyout at a public school. The previous record was set by Auburn’s 2020 buyout of football coach Gus Malzahn, which cost $21.7 million.According to an ESPN

analysis of athletic department monetary records and agreements, Power 5 and Group of 5 programs spent more than $533 million in dead money– owed to coaches who were fired without cause with time left on their contracts– in the 11-year period from Jan. 1, 2010, to Jan. 31, 2021. That consisted of payments to football coaches and men’s and females’s basketball coaches and represented head and assistant coaches.Also included

in the $146 million owed since the beginning of the 2022 season:

– $15.5 million for Bryan Harsin, fired from Auburn in October 2022.

– $15 million for Scott Frost, fired from Nebraska in September 2022.

– $11.4 million for Geoff Collins, fired from Georgia Tech in September 2022.

– $11 million for Paul Chryst, fired from Wisconsin in October 2022.

– $8.7 million for Karl Dorrell, fired from Colorado in October 2022.

– $4.4 million for Herm Edwards, fired from Arizona State in September 2022.

– $4 million for Zach Arnett, fired from Mississippi State on Monday.Buyouts can change depending on certain scenarios, including whether a coach lands a brand-new job. According to the terms of Fisher’s contract, Texas A&M will owe Fisher $19.2 million within 60 days and then pay him $7.2 million every year through 2031. There is no offset or mitigation on those payments, and the yearly payments start 120 days after termination.Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said in a press conference Sunday that the school”needs to learn a lesson “from Fisher’s agreement and that the finances associated with his firing are”monumental. “”

We will utilize unrestricted contributions within the 12th Guy Foundation for the very first one-time payment and the athletic department will money the annual payments for the staying part by growing our incomes and changing our yearly operating budget accordingly,” he said. “Although this is a significant, significant monetary choice that includes many consequences, we have a plan and we will not let this effect the performance or the culture of our entire sports program.”

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Texas A&M’s athletic department created about $193 million in earnings in 2022, ranking seventh amongst public Power 5 colleges, according to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database. Fisher’s buyout is just $6 million less than the Kansas State athletic department’s total expenses in 2022, which had to do with $82 million.The trend, dating

to last fall, of firings happening from midseason to before championship game has been speeding up. Previously, the majority of coaching modifications took place in early December. The transfer portal opens Dec. 4, and the early signing period begins Dec. 20. B. David Ridpath, Ohio University sports service professor and a member of The Drake Group, a company that lobbies Congress on issues in college sports, said that despite claims of donors paying the bill for buyouts,”despite where the cash originates from, all cash is state money at a public organization.”While he said he understands some severance is required for coaches fired for performance factors, it doesn’t make good sense to pay their whole agreements for basically a failure to perform.Ridpath stated the ability of schools to pay these buyouts shows that they can

create the cash to pay athletes, which is an extremely discussed concern amongst university leaders, the NCAA, conferences, legislators and athlete advocacy groups. “I would like to think [the Fisher buyout]

would be so outrageous that the Texas public law groups or state lawmakers or federal delegation says,’Hang on a second. Our public institutions ought to not be doing this, ‘”Ridpath stated. “What I fear is, this is only going to get larger. The only thing that will stem this tide is if the labor is paid,”and more money goes to the athletes rather of the coaches.The $146 million estimation does not include contract money possibly owed to previous Michigan State coach Mel Tucker, who was fired for cause in September amid a sexual misconduct examination, or to former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired following an examination into hazing accusations. Fitzgerald is taking legal action against Northwestern for wrongful termination, and Tucker has stated he is preparing to submit a comparable suit versus Michigan State.