Coaches on the hot seat: USC's Lincoln Riley may be in trouble despite massive buyout number
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
On the floor of the U.S. Senate on Monday, lawmakers, one by one, took turns to speak about the state of college athletics before a vote on the Protect College Sports Act.
Almost all of them, from Democrats like Maria Cantwell to Republicans like Ted Cruz, from bill supporters like Chris Coons to bill opposers like Cory Booker, mentioned to the thousands watching on CSPAN and the dozens within the chamber a festering issue that's gripped the industry: the millions that universities spend on firing college football coaches.
"In 2025 alone, 15 fired coaches secured buyouts worth a quarter of a billion dollars," said Booker, who filed an amendment (it failed) to cap coaching buyouts to an amount no greater than one year's salary.
"Two-hundred and fifty-million dollars paid to coaches not to coach," he continued. "And you hear people running around here lobbying saying we have a financial crisis in college sports!"
As the college coaching firing cycle creeps closer — it could start at any minute! — buyouts owed to coaches may again climb toward record figures.
Or perhaps, they won't?
"This may be a year where buyouts save a bunch of coaches," said one industry stakeholder.
Maybe.
After all, university officials have proven in the past that no buyout is too steep to pay for a coach losing too many games. Last year, as cited on the Senate floor, universities committed a one-year record of more than $220 million in buyout payments. And though not all of those were or are being paid out (some were mitigated with other job pay), schools agreed to paying the amounts if their fired coach never found another job.
In fact, the second, third and the fourth-highest buyouts in industry history transpired in the middle of last season: Brian Kelly ($53 million), James Franklin ($49 million) and Billy Napier ($21 million).
What awaits this year? Well, buyouts of two coaches, based in Tallahassee, Florida, and Los Angeles, total about $110 million alone. But at least a half-dozen other coaches are on Hot Seat Watch as Week Five of the season arrives.
Let's take a look:
Lincoln Riley, USC
Buyout: around $60 million
Many around the industry assumed that Riley entered this season needing a trip to the playoffs. But after a lowly performance at Rutgers and a loss at home to Oregon — which played the second half without star QB Dante Moore — a playoff berth doesn't look likely. The schedule is loaded. They host Ohio State on Halloween and travel to defending national champion Indiana. Road games against Penn State, Wisconsin and UCLA loom as problems, too. The buyout may be high, but it's unlikely to stop a decision from AD Jen Cohen, whose frustrations must be high given the resources poured into the program. Would Cohen, the former AD at Washington, go knock on Kalen DeBoer's door?
Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Buyout: $22-24 million
The Gamecocks may be headed toward a third losing season in the last four years. The blowout loss at Alabama and the drama that ensued involving standout edge rusher Dylan Stewart doesn't help the cause of Beamer, who is three games above .500 in his sixth season in Columbia, South Carolina. Is the job one in which a championship should be expected every year? No. But even in the new roster-spending era of the sport, the Gamecocks expect to, at the very least, stay out of the SEC basement. And while they may not be spending top-10 money, they are doling out enough to guys like Stewart and QB LaNorris Sellers, whose decline has left fans aghast.
Mike Locksley, Maryland
Buyout: $8-10 million
The last thing Mike Locksley needed is what transpired last week in College Park. First-year coach Bob Chesney brought his UCLA Bruins to town and crushed the Terrapins, 54-3, in a game in which Locksley's group averaged 2.3 yards a play. Last December, AD Jim Smith, at the time six months into the gig, decided to keep Locksley around for another season despite consecutive 4-8 seasons. It made some sense. A native of the DMV area, Locksley has mined local high schools for talent and landed solid portal players. On the field, Maryland has won two of its last 17 Big Ten games. The plug could be quickly pulled here. Terps are at Nebraska on Saturday.
Bill Belichick, North Carolina
Buyout: $10-12 million
No, the win in Dublin over TCU didn't quiet the buzz around Belichick's tenure in Chapel Hill, especially after blowing a fourth-quarter lead at Clemson. Notre Dame is on deck this Saturday and it could get ugly. Sure, it's only his second year, but the results don't bode well for the future — on and off the field. General manager Michael Lombardi and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, Bill's son, both resigned amid investigations into, let's just call it, not great stuff. Entering his second year, athletic director Steve Newmark wants to see improvement and progress from Year 1. Can the Tar Heels show it against the Irish?
Mike Norvell, Florida State
Buyout: $45-50 million
The firing of your boss, in this case athletic director Mike Alford, normally doesn't bode well for many coaches. But was Alford's firing a product of university administrators' pinning the football issues on the AD? Is Norvell out of the woods? Unlikely. But some at FSU believe that the coach can still survive by winning enough this year (can he get to seven Ws?). The buyout figure is high enough to present a problem for a department that spent hundreds of millions on facility renovations recently.
Others to watch
Dave Doeren, NC State: He's won at least eight games in five of the last six years, but everyone, at some point, overstays the welcome. The game-ending disaster at Vanderbilt may linger. His buyout is around $10-12 million.
Sonny Dykes, TCU: After back-to-back nine-win seasons, the Horned Frogs seem headed for a tough year. That 2022 trip to the championship game seems light years away. Can they turn it around? Dykes' buyout is unknown because TCU is a private school, but it's likely more than $25 million.
Greg Schiano, Rutgers: No one has more friends in New Jersey than this guy, but Schiano's Scarlet Knights are 1-3 after going 5-7 last season. Does Rutgers have the money to cut the big check? His buyout is around $19 million.
Deion Sanders, Colorado: The Buffaloes haven't been the same since losing Heisman winner Travis Hunter and QB Shedeur Sanders. Their win at Georgia Tech masked some real issues that popped up at Baylor and Northwestern. His buyout is around $25 million.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos