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Florida’s University Athletic Association announced Tuesday that Jim McElwain’s buyout has been settled at $7.5 million.
McElwain was fired in October for a variety of reasons. It was rumored that Florida would only have to pay $4 million of the original $12 million buyout clause.
Part of this stems from a report from ESPN’s Brett McMurphy in October that McElwain’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, didn’t want to fight Florida too hard as he also represents Florida’s recently hired head coach, Dan Mullen.
Here’s a breakdown of how McElwain will receive his buyout, as he’ll receive payments until 2021.
Jim McElwain’s buyout is $7.5 million. Here is how it will be paid out. #Gators pic.twitter.com/pCi3NgOBd0
— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) November 28, 2017
Not Just McElwain
McElwain is not the only coach this season to receive a huge buyout.
If there was ever any doubt just how much money is involved in Division I college football, a look at the recent coaching firings and buyouts will eliminate any of that doubt.
According to USA Today Sports, over $60 million is owed in buyout payments to coaches in wake of the recent string of firings in college football. That figure doesn’t even include McElwain’s buyout.
At UCLA, Jim Mora was fired after the Bruins’ loss to Southern Cal.
At Arizona State, Todd Graham is out after going 46-31 in his time with the Sun Devils.
In the SEC, Kevin Sumlin, Butch Jones, and Brett Bielema join McElwain as coaches to get the boot.
And at Nebraska, Mike Riley is gone with reports that former quarterback and current UCF head coach Scott Frost is set to be the new guy.
What do all of these fired head coaches have in common?
Buyouts north of $5 million.
That's a lot of money… pic.twitter.com/2etqyW4zJf
— Bob Ley (@BobLeyESPN) November 27, 2017
That number will increase if these schools hire away coaches from other universities, as they’ll have to pay their buyouts to get them out of their contract. An example of this would be Scott Frost. Nebraska would have to pay UCF $3 million to get him out of Orlando.
There’s big money in college football, and the coaching buyout figures will continue to increase.
