Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Getting paid to do nothing is the ultimate dream, right? Well, several college football head coaches and assistant coaches have been living that kind of high life lately as $1.04 billion in buyouts will have been paid to them since the College Football Playoff system began after the 2014 season when all is said and done.
A big, BIG chunk of that money has gone to just nine college football coaches. Brian Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, and friends account for over 25 percent of that $1.04 billion.
According to Front Office Sports and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, since the College Football Playoff replaced the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), over $100 million in buyouts were given to college football coaches in the fiscal years of 2018, 2023, 2024, and 2026.
In fact, right now, the 2026 fiscal year is set to pay college football coaches a record $185 million to NOT coach college football. That number beats out the previous record of $120.7 million that was given to coaches in 2024. So more than 30 percent of that $1.04 billion in buyouts will have been paid in just two years.
The rest of the figures are as follows: 2015: 32.3 million; 2016: $39.9 million; 2017: $48.3 million; 2018: $104.1 million; 2019: $68.9 million; 2020: $61.6 million; 2021: $84.7 million; 2022: $98.2 million; 2023: $103.1 million; and 2025: $34.7 million.
All of these coaching buyouts have drawn the attention of Congress
Last week, a bill called the Correcting Opportunity and Accountability in Collegiate Hiring Act (COACH Act) was introduced by Rep. Michael Baumgartner in the House. The bill was created to “amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cap certain intercollegiate athletics compensation and buyouts as a condition of institutional participation in Federal student aid programs, and for other purposes.”
In other words, it would put a cap on how much schools can pay their coaches. The reasons for such a cap are stated in the bill.
“Escalating compensation and buyouts for athletics personnel can divert resources from academic priorities and broad-based opportunities, including women’s and Olympic sports, and warrant reasonable, uniform guardrails as a condition of title IV participation,” the bill reads.
It goes on to state, “As a condition of eligibility under this title, the institution shall ensure that the total annual compensation paid, promised, or provided to any athletics department employee does not exceed 10 times the institution’s tuition and required fees for a first-time, full-time undergraduate for the most recent academic year.”
The bill also wants to make it so “any payment to terminate, buy out, or settle an employment agreement with an athletics department employee shall be treated as compensation.”
It also explicitly states that “total annual compensation” will include “wages, salaries, stipends, allowances, incentive or performance bonuses, signing or retention bonuses, deferred compensation, employer retirement contributions above standard plan matches, severance, buyouts, cancellation or mitigation payments, in-kind compensation, appearance fees, debt servicing, debt relief, and any other compensation paid by or through a related organization (including a foundation, booster organization, media arm, or affiliate) or a third party under an arrangement to perform services for the institution.”
Will such a bill ever pass? And should it? We won’t know until the government returns from being shut down.