As far as FSU being broke, all it would take is one or two very rich boosters to come up with the $20 million. It could happen if FSU looks bad enough.
However, for that to happen I think they would have to know who the new hire is in advance, and it would have to be a home run.
Couple of points beyond the financials to consider.
Despite the inevitable "evaluate at the end of season" talk from AD's, the fact is, decisions are already made weeks, if not months in advance. So not only would it be extremely bad from a PR standpoint because of it being their first ever minority coach that they're firing. They'd also effectively be admitting that they gave up on him after a season and a few games(at most). That's reeks of having their minds made up before he even coached a game, which gives way to the obvious charge, especially from a southern school.
In line with that, what I rarely hear people talk about is how much of a disservice Fisher did by having that awful final year. By him basically mailing it in(see Meyer 2010), it gave way to the impression that this was a program in disarray and would need considerable time to fix. Whether it's true or not(6th most talented team in cfb), perception rules and the media have run with this, similar to WM's defenders at UF. So WT is going to be viewed as a guy who was tasked with taking over a disaster and rebuilding, and then fired as if the 2018 and 2019 records are actually his fault, when they're actually in line with 2017's record under Fisher. That's a tough one to explain yourself out of. It appears that in addition to passing his wife out to former Gator players at will, Jimbo did us another favor by just not caring in his final season.
And to your last point, I think that's the issue--they're not going to have a homerun lining up to take over this mess, handsomely paid or not. A new head coach in 2020 would not only inherit a previous staff's bad apples and misfits, but
his predecessor's bad apples and misfits. It's like a single mother with 2 bad kids, from two tumultuous ex's. It's just not that attractive if you're looking long-term. I'd be shocked if any high profile name would readily step up, inherit a position at a school that will be presently getting raked over the coals for "racism", has Clemson in their division, not to mention if UF and um look good this year, and has a bunch of disenfranchised players from two previous regimes.
Not saying they won't try it, but as dumb as they are in Clowntown, I think there's enough brains to know they're in trouble and at least a year away from being able to have this conversation, probably even two or three.
