CFB coaching buyouts could exceed $100 million this offseason

The coaching carousel has been spinning at a pretty high rate of speed throughout this offseason. All the change has come at an incredible price, too.

Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated recently crunched some of the numbers with coaching buyouts this offseason. Currently, that total sits at just over $94 million, but there’s a chance it exceeds $100 million.

Over the past week, Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin has come under harsh scrutiny after a flurry of staff members and players left the program. It has the university, as well as some boosters, exploring options to terminate the head coach after just one season.

Per Dellenger, Harsin’s buyout is $18.3 million. If the school does part ways with its head coach, that would bring the buyout total in college football to more than $112 million.

That’s an incredibly high price tag considering so many schools complained of deficits last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Below is the complete breakdown from Dellenger:

If Auburn fires Harsin, it'd be the largest buyout of the cycle.

Harsin $18.3M*
O $17M
Mullen $12M
Gary P $12M
Helton $10M
Lake $9.9M
Fuente $8.7M
Wells $7.4M
Carey $4M
Diaz $4M
Addazio $3M
Holtz $3M
Bell $940K
Lundsford $800K
Lindsey $700K
Arth $640K
Edsall $400K

Total $112.7M

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) February 4, 2022

There are no B1G head coaches on this list. With Jim Harbaugh returning to Michigan in 2022 after flirting with the NFL, it doesn’t appear the conference will see any head coaching changes this offseason — barring something unexpected.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB