Have you ever done your job so poorly that your employer gave you nearly $50 million to go away? No? Well, you must not be a prominent college football coach.
Penn State fired head coach James Franklin on Sunday after the team’s loss at home to unranked Northwestern. It was apparently the final straw after the Nittany Lions—who entered the season ranked No. 2 in the country and had national championship aspirations—lost three games in a row, including as a 24.5-point favorite to winless UCLA:
- Penn State now must pay Franklin the remainder of his 10-year contract, reportedly worth more than $49 million.
- That’s the second-biggest buyout in college football history, behind the $76 million that Jimbo Fisher was given to stop being the Texas A&M coach in 2023.
Observers expect these monstrous buyouts to continue as more money is poured into college sports and as universities value winning above all else.—AE