Coaching Buyouts and Contract Extensions Thread

[MrNubbz]

Kyle McCord completes 70% of his passes and throws for 354 yards and 4 TD's with an 82 QBR in his Syracuse debut in a 38-22 victory over Ohio, and his coach wants to send Ryan Day a bottle of the bubbly...

Ya put him in a tight game against equal talent when he doesn't have marv to bail him out. That Cuse coach is a mallet head to bump his gums this early vs a non con. Wish Kyle luck but he had his shot on the big stage

[CatsbyAZ]

Deshaun Watson’s stat-line Vs the Cowboys last Sunday:

C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT RTG
24/45 169 3.8  1    2     51

On top of his poor showing, Watson is facing new lawsuit, this time for sexually assaulting a victim in her apartment.

At this point Watson is only on the field for the Browns because of the unforgiveable contract he’s signed to. Five years/$230M with a $45M signing bonus, all of it guaranteed, an NFL record deal at the time. This despite 24 civil lawsuits filed against him over the summer of 2022, accusing Watson of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions.

This latest lawsuit is unrelated, which is good news for a Browns franchise with certain buyer’s remorse. Watson's record contract “includes language that could trigger a default if he is suspended for a previous incident he failed to disclose to the team.”

From Sports Illustrated–

“…Watson can be considered in default if he is reasonably believed by Club to have engaged in personal conduct that materially and adversely affects or reflects on Club or has his contract terminated for engaging in personal conduct that reasonably judged by Club to materially and adversely affect or reflect on Club.”

“If Watson did not disclose these allegations, and if the allegations result in a suspension that would prevent  continuing availability to the club, one could presume the Browns may have an avenue to explore considering Watson in default.”

Defaulting would give the Browns an out from paying the $92M left on the last two years of Watson’s 5 year contract – from Pro Football Talk:

“As a practical matter, this is about 2025 and 2026. He’s still due to receive $92 million, fully guaranteed, after the current season. If he would be suspended before the 2025 season begins, the Browns could declare a default, void the guarantees, and move on from Watson.”

“To summarize, did Watson disclose this to the Browns? If yes, the issue is over. If he didn’t, and if the ends up being suspended for it, the Browns could indeed escape the final two years of the five-year deal.”

If you’re the Browns, do whatever it takes to move on from Watson and not pay the rest of his insulting contract.


https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1833289862167875636

[CatsbyAZ]

With how disappointed Bama fans are with Kalen DeBoer's inaugural season in Tuscaloosa - "One thing's for sure: DeBoer is now on the clock." - I wondered what his contract looked like:

From ESPN:

“His eight-year contract was approved Monday by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees, and DeBoer will make $10 million in the first year of his deal that will run through Dec. 31, 2031. His compensation will increase $250,000 per year and grow to $11.75 million in the final year of the deal.”

“DeBoer's contract is 90 percent guaranteed if he were to be fired without cause, and there is no mitigation. His buyout if he were to leave Alabama before his contract is up is $5 million in 2024, $4 million in 2025, $3 million in 2026 and nothing from 2027-31.”

A contract almost as bloated as if drafted by Scott Woodward.

[Gigem]

I heard, and have not verified, that for the first time in many years no HFC in the SEC has either left or been fired.  Wonder when the last time that happened?  

[CatsbyAZ]

Pulling from another thread:

Calling it now - Bill Belichick's tenure at UNC will be a runaway disaster. There isn't anything serious about how he's handling himself as UNC's new coach:

"Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend showed rapper Lil Wayne the ropes in Chapel Hill over the weekend..."

&

From NY Post: Alarmed by CBS disaster, Bill Belichick insiders say girlfriend Jordon Hudson is a runaway train

So did UNC hire Bill Belichick, or Bill Belichick AND his 24 year-old girlfriend? Calling it now (AGAIN) - UNC Football will be a DISASTER this coming season.

NY Post on Belichick's UNC buyout drastically dropping next month:

"Bill Belichick and North Carolina have an easy way out of their troubled relationship. And the date to keep an eye on is coming soon. On June 1, the legendary football coach’s buyout clause will drop from $10 million to $1 million, giving him an out from the top job in Chapel Hill and a much more palatable payment to the university should he bail on the Tar Heels. The buyout was originally seen as a potential path for Belichick, who is on a five-year, $50 million contract with UNC, to return to the NFL after striking out during the last two hiring cycles."

So Belichick's side wanted the early buyout drop in order to make it financially easier for an NFL team to swoop him away as early as this summer? $10 million to $1 million is a remarkably high buyout reduction when not a single game has yet to be coached. If I'm UNC I buy Belichick out on June 1. $1M is a small loss to cut ties with a guy whose best coaching days are long past and is more interested in his 'runaway train' girlfriend than coaching. Learn your lesson, UNC, after hiring Mack Brown well past his prime.

$1M is an excellent price to free yourself of this kind of ongoing publicity:

"Then this week...Torre alleged that Hudson had been banned from Tar Heels practices, although UNC’s athletics department released a statement disputing the claim: “While Jordon Hudson is not an employee at the University or Carolina Athletics, she is welcome to the Carolina Football facilities,” the school said. “Jordon will continue to manage all activities related to Coach Belichick’s personal brand outside of his responsibilities for Carolina Football and the University.”


https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1921254517175193866

[betarhoalphadelta]

Pulling from another thread:&
NY Post on Belichick's UNC buyout drastically dropping next month:

"Bill Belichick and North Carolina have an easy way out of their troubled relationship. And the date to keep an eye on is coming soon. On June 1, the legendary football coach’s buyout clause will drop from $10 million to $1 million, giving him an out from the top job in Chapel Hill and a much more palatable payment to the university should he bail on the Tar Heels. The buyout was originally seen as a potential path for Belichick, who is on a five-year, $50 million contract with UNC, to return to the NFL after striking out during the last two hiring cycles."

So Belichick's side wanted the early buyout drop in order to make it financially easier for an NFL team to swoop him away as early as this summer? $10 million to $1 million is a remarkably high buyout reduction when not a single game has yet to be coached. If I'm UNC I buy Belichick out on June 1. $1M is a small loss to cut ties with a guy whose best coaching days are long past and is more interested in his 'runaway train' girlfriend than coaching. Learn your lesson, UNC, after hiring Mack Brown well past his prime.

That's now much Belichick owes UNC if he chooses to leave, not how much they owe him if they fire him. It's a one-sided escape clause. 

If UNC wanted to fire him, they'd probably owe him the bulk of that $50M depending on how much of the contract was guaranteed. 

[Gigem]

I'm happy to let UNC take some heat on this ill-guided coaching escapade.  Nobody has brought up the A&M Fisher debacle for a little while.  

[CatsbyAZ]

This came to mind over the weekend, but I started wondering whether the Transfer Portal could slightly change the demand for Head Coaching contracts to extends at a minimum of four and five years out, season after season. Keeping even mediocre Head Coaches, like Justin Wilcox (42–50) and Sam Pittman (30–31) on contract at four- and five-year minimums was treated as a must to avoid opposing coaches negatively recruiting against a coach with only one or two years left.

“Why play for a guy who won’t be around after next season?”

But with the Transfer Portal cutting into the emphasis on prep recruiting, and Portal recruits more often intending to pass through the program for only one or two seasons (as opposed to high schoolers signing on for four and five seasons), will ADs not be so quick to keep Head Coaches on contracts continually extended four and five years out? And will the negative recruiting against having only 1 or 2 years left on contract not be so negative?

If not, won’t a Head Coach on the sideline with only two years left put even more recruiting emphasis on the Transfer Portal? Why focus on signing full classes of high school seniors if the odds of cooling your coaching seat are bettered by filling immediate roster needs with experience in the Portal?

[CatsbyAZ]

Brian Kelly's buyout amount was the most headlined tangent related to his firing.

This is the year that media coverage has really started to hone in on the buyout amounts of college football coaches.

And understandably so. Fully guaranteed coaching buyouts are too large and too reckless not to go unnoticed.

[CatsbyAZ]

Posted this on the SEC board but this fits here as well - Alabama extends coach Kalen DeBoer's contract and boosts his salary:

"At a trustee compensation meeting on Wednesday, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne announced that DeBoer received a seven-year extension (two extra years) that runs through 2033, with an annual salary of $12.5 million, a $2 million raise from what he was scheduled to make this season." 

"If DeBoer leaves Alabama, it comes with a buyout provision of $10 million in January 2027, $8 million in January 2028 and then $6 million in January 2029. If Alabama fires DeBoer, it'll owe him 90 percent of his remaining contract with no duty to mitigate."

Breaking down those 90% buyout figures - from this USA Today editorial:

Alabama just committed to exorbitant buyouts ― if this thing goes sideways, which it very well could — of up to $67.5 million (2027), $56.2 million (2028) and $45 million (2029) for a coach whose team lost by 14 to Florida State (as a 13.5-point favorite) in the 2025 season opener. 

In short, DeBoer's extension increases the total value of his contract to $87.5M, and increases his annual salary from $10.25M to $12.5M.

Where was the demand for Alabama's AD to swing this big on a coach who's gone 20-8 in two seasons, and for the most part, underwhelmed the fan base?!?! Certainly not from Alabama fans. And there was no pressure to keep DeBoer locked down from other programs; no one else wants DeBoer that badly. A totally unprompted, unecessary waste of money by Alabama AD Greg Byrne. 

[847badgerfan]

These people are f'ing nuts.

[FearlessF]

better to spend the extra $2 mil a season on players IMO

[MrNubbz]

  If people would quit paying for pay per view(Cable/Streaming) this would go away.But no everyone bitches,but if everyone dropped it or stopped they'd be dead in the water. I haven't watched an NFL Draft since I dropped cable.Haven't watched the Buckeyes in the CFBPOs because it moved there.

 It's maddening focus on the more important things like utilities are going thru the roof  - all corporate greed. Can always listen to the games on the radio and if it doesn't unknot itself - DONE.Quit being John's to those whores

[CatsbyAZ]

Listening to a daily Bama fan podcast to find out the host's reaction to DeBoer’s contract extension, and was surprised to hear them mostly defend the extension.

They opened their podcast by saying: “They [Bama] are doing what is necessary. To not give an extension is a vote of lack of confidence. That’s exactly what this is. If you don’t extend your coaches on an annual basis, or at least a biannual basis, then you’re basically saying ‘yea, we need to see more.’ So, if you’re putting that seed of doubt out into the universe – the recruiting universe – it’s going to be very difficult to get the guys you want.”

This just isn’t the case anymore, or at least not as much anymore now that NIL drives recruiting (and transfers) more than a program projecting coaching stability with routine contract extensions.

They also mention that this contract extension was prompted by the start of Michigan’s coaching search last December, and the terms of which were finalized back in December, however it took a few months to get through the ‘Board of Trust’ for signing. IOW, negotiations took place between Alabama’s loss to Georgia in the SEC CG and their win over Oklahoma in the Playoff.

They also bring up how DeBoer’s agent is Jimmy Sexton, who also represented Nick Saban; they say Sexton's practice with Saban’s contract was to approach Alabama for an extension and a raise every two years. And that this is what is happening with DeBoer’s contract as well, given DeBoer has just finished his second season coaching Bama.

That’s all fine – an agent will be the initiator. But where is any sense on Alabama’s and AD Greg Byrne part to negotiate a deal that doesn’t put Alabama into such a financial pit? Specifically when it comes to guaranteeing 90% of the contract if DeBoer is fired? Why doesn’t AD Greg Byrne have any standing to negotiate a lower buyout percentage (75 or 60%?) with DeBoer continuing to pretty much live on the ‘hot seat’ going into year three?

Alabama just committed to exorbitant buyouts ― if this thing goes sideways, which it very well could — of up to $67.5 million (2027), $56.2 million (2028) and $45 million (2029) for a coach whose team lost by 14 to Florida State (as a 13.5-point favorite) in the 2025 season opener.