Auburn University’s midseason dismissal of Bryan Harsin after less than two years on the job is one of many examples of how college sports programs are digging themselves million-dollar holes when hiring a coach.
Auburn is no stranger to football success. Quarterback Cam Newton led the Tigers to a national championship in 2010, and the team made the title game again three years later.
Since then, though, Auburn football has been ordinary — a slur of the worst kind in Southeastern Conference country.
The coach who won the 2010 title, Gene Chizik, went 3-9 two years later and was fired. His successor, Gus Malzahn, lasted eight years and never had a losing season, but the school dismissed him after a 6-4 record in 2020.
The concern is not the removal of coaches who aren’t winning. College sports has become a high-stakes endeavor, and coaches who perform below expectations put their job at risk. The problem is that too many universities who picked the wrong pony are paying dearly, as in many millions of dollars, for their mistake.
Auburn, or maybe their private donors, is just the latest example. When the school fired Malzahn two years ago, his contract stipulated that he would be paid another $21 million. With the recent dismissal of Harsin, who came to the Plains from Boise State and apparently wasn’t a good fit for the SEC, Auburn is on the hook to pay him more than $15 million — and half of it has to be paid within 30 days.
This is just one school. A similar situation is brewing at Texas A&M, where football coach Jimbo Fisher is under fire. Fisher is in the second year of a 10-year, fully guaranteed $95 million contract, but his team is 3-5 despite some highly rated recruiting classes.
If the Aggies decide to move on from Fisher sooner rather than later, it will cost the school (or its wealthy supporters) dearly. Which leads to the question: Why are so many universities greatly overpaying for employees who are not living up to admittedly high expectations?
One answer is that the highest level of college sports, like their professional cousins, has become a financial giant. Just as NFL player salaries have gone into the stratosphere, so has the pay for pro and college coaches.
Put another way, if you want your team to beat Nick Saban, then you’d better pay your coach the way Alabama pays him. Of course, the difference is that Saban has won seven championships in Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge.
Another answer, though, is that too many schools look like poor negotiators when a fired coach rakes in millions after his dismissal. It’s a mystery why athletic directors and presidents won’t hold the line with a coach whose financial demands are unreasonable. Before signing a contract, they seem unable to ask the question: What if this guy bombs?
It’s on universities to fix this. Till then, don’t be surprised if you ask a youngster what he wants to be when a grows up, and he answers, “A fired college coach with a $15 million buyout.”
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
