Holy cow, you guys. We always talk about the money in pro sports, but what went down on the U.S. Senate floor on Monday shows just how wild college football has gotten, especially when it comes to coaches. Senator Cory Booker dropped a bombshell: in 2025 alone, *fifteen* fired coaches raked in a quarter of a billion dollars in buyouts. Seriously, $250 million paid to coaches *not* to coach! That’s just bonkers, and it paints a super clear picture of why lawmakers like our own Maria Cantwell, along with folks like Ted Cruz, are all up in arms about the state of college athletics. Booker even tried to cap those buyouts, but his amendment failed. What a mess.
The Insane Buyout Carousel Keeps Spinning
The thing is, this isn’t just a one-off. Last year, universities committed to paying over $220 million in buyout payments, a one-year record! And while some of that might get mitigated if a fired coach finds another job, schools are on the hook for those massive payouts if they don’t. We’re talking absolute generational wealth being tossed around for guys who didn’t get it done. Remember last season? Brian Kelly snagged $53 million, James Franklin got $49 million, and Billy Napier pocketed $21 million. These aren’t just big numbers, they’re the second, third, and fourth-highest buyouts in the history of college football. And get this: an industry insider even wondered if these buyouts might actually *save* coaches this year. Maybe, but with Week Five here, the coaching hot seat watch is in full effect, and some serious cash is on the line. We’re already looking at two coaches in Tallahassee and Los Angeles whose potential buyouts hit around $110 million combined.
Lincoln Riley’s $60 Million Headache and the Jen Cohen Factor
Now, let’s talk about Lincoln Riley down at USC. The dude’s got a 39-19 record in five seasons, which isn’t terrible, but the word around the industry was he *needed* a playoff trip this year. Well, after a flat-out “lowly performance” against Rutgers and then taking an L at home to Oregon (who, get this, played the entire second half without star QB Dante Moore), that playoff dream is looking pretty, pretty unlikely. His schedule isn’t doing him any favors either: hosting Ohio State on Halloween, traveling to defending national champion Indiana, plus road games against Penn State, Wisconsin, and UCLA are all massive problems.
The real kicker here? Riley’s buyout is hovering around $60 million. Yeah, you read that right. But here’s where it gets interesting for us Emerald City fans: the AD making these tough calls is Jen Cohen. Our Jen Cohen, the *former* AD at Washington! You know her. You know the resources USC has poured into that program, so her frustration has got to be through the roof. The source even asks if Cohen, with her Husky roots, would ever go knocking on Kalen DeBoer’s door. Just imagine the chaos that could create in the college football world, especially with our deep connections to both Cohen and DeBoer. That $60 million is a massive number, but it sounds like it might not be enough to stop a decision if the season keeps going sideways.
With at least a half-dozen coaches on the hot seat as Week Five wraps up, including Shane Beamer over at South Carolina with his $22-24 million buyout, this coaching carousel is just getting started. It’s wild to think about the financial gymnastics happening behind the scenes in college football right now. This isn’t just about X’s and O’s anymore; it’s about hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts and the power players like Jen Cohen deciding who gets what. Get ready, because the “firing cycle” could kick off at any minute, and when it does, it’s going to be epic.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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