Analysis - Power 5 owes $146M to fired football coaches since '22 - ESPN

Texas A&M's record $76 million contract buyout for fired football coach Jimbo Fisher accounts for more than half of the approximately $146 million Power 5 schools owe to fired head football coaches since the start of the 2022 season, according to publicly available data.

Fisher's buyout is nearly triple the highest known coaching contract buyout at a public school. The previous record was set by Auburn's 2020 buyout of football coach Gus Malzahn, which cost $21.7 million.

According to an ESPN analysis of athletic department financial records and contracts, Power 5 and Group of 5 programs spent more than $533 million in dead money — owed to coaches who were fired without cause with time left on their contracts — in the 11-year period from Jan. 1, 2010, to Jan. 31, 2021. That included payments to football coaches and men's and women's basketball coaches and accounted for head and assistant coaches.

Also included in the $146 million owed since the beginning of the 2022 season:

• $15.5 million for Bryan Harsin, fired from Auburn in October 2022.

• $15 million for Scott Frost, fired from Nebraska in September 2022.

• $11.4 million for Geoff Collins, fired from Georgia Tech in September 2022.

• $11 million for Paul Chryst, fired from Wisconsin in October 2022.

• $8.7 million for Karl Dorrell, fired from Colorado in October 2022.

• $4.4 million for Herm Edwards, fired from Arizona State in September 2022.

• $4 million for Zach Arnett, fired from Mississippi State on Monday.

Buyouts can change depending on certain circumstances, including whether a coach lands a new job. According to the terms of Fisher's contract, Texas A&M will owe Fisher $19.2 million within 60 days and then pay him $7.2 million annually through 2031. There