UF spent most of any Power 5 program on buyouts last 15 years

BMF

Bad Mother....
Lifetime Member
Sep 8, 2014
25,399
59,221
UF spent most of any Power 5 program on buyouts last 15 years

UF spent most of any Power 5 program on buyouts last 15 years

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It should come as little surprise, but Florida has spent quite a lot of money in the last 15 years on buyouts.

Like, a lot a lot. In fact, according to a recent study posted by AthleticDirectorU.com, the Gators spent more money than any other Power 5 program on football coaches' buyouts over the past 15 years.

And only two programs have spent more on football and basketball buyouts combined than Florida has.

The Gators have spent $24.9 million on football severance in the past 15 years, according to the study. That topped Nebraska ($24.3 million), Kansas ($23.7 million), Auburn ($21.4 million) and Tennessee ($20.2 million) in the Top 5.

Florida's biggest expenditures come from failed head coaching hires.

Will Muschamp received the first significant buyout from the Gators when he was canned in 2014. He earned a buyout of about $6.3 million for the right not to coach UF following his fourth season, after he compiled a 28-21 overall record and a 17-15 mark in the SEC.

UF turned to former Alabama offensive coordinator and then-Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain to replace him.

McElwain's tenure got off to a hot start, but he couldn't sustain it after winning the SEC East in his first two seasons, becoming the first coach in SEC history to reach conference title games in his first two seasons at a program. Things crashed spectacularly when Florida went 4-7 and McElwain claimed that death threats had been made to people in the program in his third year, then failed to provide the administration with any proof of his claims.

That entire fiasco cost the Gators $7.5 million just to cut ties with McElwain.

But in both instances, Florida ended up incurring costs to buy out the contracts of assistant coaches who were set to return beyond just the year their head coach was fired.

On a per-year basis over the past 15 years, Florida has ranked sixth in football severance compensation, spending $1.66 million per year.

You can view AthleticDirectorU.com to see some cool visualizations and charts of each Power 5 program's spending over the last 15 years by heading to their site. It's worth your time.
 

BMF

Bad Mother....
Lifetime Member
Sep 8, 2014
25,399
59,221
Combined-FB_MBB-Severance.png
 

78

Founding Member
Dazed and Confused
Lifetime Member
Jun 9, 2014
19,745
27,635
Founding Member
I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate that these numbers are inversely correlated to winning.
 

diehardg8r

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2014
4,223
3,948
It's the price you pay for not doing your homework when hiring someone to run the only two sports that generate a positive income in your athletic program. Football and mens basketball. Had we not fked ourselves TWICE in football we could afford to send White packing but McCaldump and Mustyhump cost us a shyt load.
 

GatorJB

Founding Member
Senior Member
Lifetime Member
Jun 12, 2014
3,449
6,124
Founding Member
I'm surprised we passed ut. They had to pay buyouts for Fulmer, Dooley, and Jones. I guess we pay our assistants more?

Anyways, this is why you don't go cheap the first time and don't give anybody a raise after one or two years without the hardware to back it up.
 

Swamp Donkey

Founding Member
7-14 vs P5 Fire Stricklin First
Lifetime Member
Jun 9, 2014
78,161
109,975
Founding Member
Man, that Fooley sures knows how to save money by hiring garbage coaches instead of the expensive winning ones.

And then immediately give them several raises per year til we were paying .500 ish coaches who never have and never will be champions a top 10 salary.

Then fire them halfway through their contracts.
 

Gatordiddy

Member in good standing
Lifetime Member
Jul 23, 2014
11,719
26,477
Man, that Fooley sures knows how to save money by hiring garbage coaches instead of the expensive winning ones.

And then immediately give them several raises per year til we were paying .500 ish coaches who never have and never will be champions a top 10 salary.

Then fire them halfway through their contracts.

giphy.gif
 

divits

Founding Member
A Muffin of the Studly Variety
Lifetime Member
Jun 13, 2014
12,702
22,997
Founding Member
This is a direct indictment on terrible decision making and atrocious negotiating skills. And it's not like everyone didn't know the decisions were terrible when they were made. Look at the schools on that list. It reads like a Who's Who of head scratching coaching hires.
 

Double Gator Dad

Founding Member
Senior Member
Lifetime Member
Jun 12, 2014
4,988
8,400
Founding Member
This is embarrassing, yet Foley is still a revered figure.

My thoughts exactly

He should have been removed from the facility with McElwain. College athletics is supposed to be a business but I can assure you that no corporate CEO would have survived the screw ups that Fooley did
 

BMF

Bad Mother....
Lifetime Member
Sep 8, 2014
25,399
59,221
My thoughts exactly

He should have been removed from the facility with McElwain. College athletics is supposed to be a business but I can assure you that no corporate CEO would have survived the screw ups that Fooley did

Yep. And all the Foley lovers would harp on how great he is w/ the non-revenue sports. Stricklin has proven you don't need to be the 'greatest AD ever' (what the Foley lovers call him) to have winning non-revenue sports at UF.

Foley blew the Muschamp and Butters hires, but not only that he gave them these ridiculous contracts w/ unfavorable buyouts (to UF). If anything Stricklin should get credit for not having to pay Butters his full buyout (but I still argue we shouldn't have paid him a dime and risked going to court over it - legal fees wouldn't have come close to $7.5 million).

For the "we're not getting into an arms race" comment alone he should have been shown the door. The $25 million we've paid would have been a great start to those facilities.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Help Users

You haven't joined any rooms.