Biggest College Football Buyouts of 2025 (and the Payouts That Set the Stage)
© Corey Perrine / Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In college football, winning means wealth — and losing means an expensive exit. The modern arms race in coaching contracts has sent buyouts soaring to unprecedented levels, creating multimillion-dollar safety nets for the sport’s biggest names.
Our 2025 analysis of top coaching buyouts reveals just how costly success (and failure) has become, even as the financial divide between athletics and academics widens. It’s a trend now drawing scrutiny from Washington, where the proposed COACH Act would cap total compensation at ten times a school’s annual tuition, challenging the economics of big-time college sports.
RotoGrinders found the 30 heftiest college football buyouts — and how many students’ tuition it takes to pay them out.
Key Insights
- Average buyout: $41.3 million across the top 30 coaches.
- Total buyout value represented: Over $1.19 billion.
- Average in-state tuition (w/ fees): $17,400 — meaning the average buyout equals roughly 2,370 times a school’s annual tuition.
- 11 of the top 20 coaches come from SEC programs.
- Highest buyout: Georgia’s Kirby Smart at $105.1 million, nearly 915× higher than his school’s COACH Act cap. It would take 9,146 students’ tuition to pay that.
- Largest past payout from a coach who was fired: Jimbo Fisher’s $76.8 million.
- Nearly $95 million has been paid out to former coaches on this list (e.g., Fisher, Orgeron, Weis, Malzahn, Allen).
- COACH Act comparison: Every coach listed exceeds the proposed 10× tuition cap — in some cases by more than 700 times.
- College football buyouts exceed those in the NFL.
Top 30 College Football Buyouts (Active and Recent, 2025)
| Rank | Coach | School | Buyout (USD) | In-State Tuition | COACH Act Cap | Tuition Equivalents (# Students) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirby Smart | Georgia | $105,107,583 | $11,492 | $114,920 | 9,146 |
| 2 | Jimbo Fisher | Texas A&M (fired 2023) | $76,800,000 | $10,934 | $109,340 | 7,023 |
| 3 | Ryan Day | Ohio State | $70,916,667 | $13,641 | $136,410 | 5,198 |
| 4 | Lincoln Riley | USC | $70,000,000 | $75,162 | $751,620 | 931 |
| 5 | Kalen DeBoer | Alabama | $60,843,750 | $12,484 | $124,840 | 4,873 |
| 6 | Steve Sarkisian | Texas | $60,307,500 | $13,500 | $135,000 | 4,469 |
| 7 | Dabo Swinney | Clemson | $60,000,000 | $15,854 | $158,540 | 3,784 |
| 8 | Mike Norvell | Florida State | $58,667,708 | $10,300 | $103,000 | 5,695 |
| 9 | Dan Lanning | Oregon | $56,733,333 | $16,755 | $167,550 | 3,385 |
| 10 | Matt Rhule | Nebraska | $56,280,000 | $11,100 | $111,000 | 5,070 |
| 11 | Brian Kelly | LSU | $53,293,333 | $12,472 | $124,720 | 4,271 |
| 12 | James Franklin | Penn State | $49,000,000 | $21,098 | $210,980 | 2,322 |
| 13 | Jeff Brohm | Louisville | $39,325,000 | $12,780 | $127,800 | 3,077 |
| 14 | Mark Stoops | Kentucky | $37,687,500 | $12,240 | $122,400 | 3,078 |
| 15 | Josh Heupel | Tennessee | $37,500,000 | $13,812 | $138,120 | 2,714 |
| 16 | Lane Kiffin | Ole Miss | $36,600,000 | $8,550 | $85,500 | 4,282 |
| 17 | Brent Venables | Oklahoma | $36,158,333 | $10,181 | $101,810 | 3,552 |
| 18 | Eli Drinkwitz | Missouri | $28,875,685 | $11,240 | $112,400 | 2,568 |
| 19 | Shane Beamer | South Carolina | $27,903,958 | $10,710 | $107,100 | 2,605 |
| 20 | Pat Narduzzi | Pitt | $25,000,000 | $19,350 | $193,500 | 1,292 |
| 21 | Mike Elko | Texas A&M | $21,875,000 | $8,580 | $85,800 | 2,550 |
| 22 | Gus Malzahn | Auburn (past) | $21,400,000 | $12,176 | $121,760 | 1,757 |
| 23 | Billy Napier | Florida | $20,428,333 | $12,176 | $121,760 | 1,677 |
| 24 | Charlie Weis | Notre Dame (past) | $18,900,000 | $66,200 | $662,000 | 285 |
| 25 | Ed Orgeron | LSU (past) | $16,900,000 | $12,472 | $124,720 | 1,354 |
| 26 | Tom Allen | Indiana (past) | $15,500,000 | $11,100 | $111,000 | 1,396 |
| 27 | Hugh Freeze | Auburn | $15,437,500 | $11,100 | $111,000 | 1,390 |
| 28 | Lance Leipold | Kansas | $10,000,000 | $11,167 | $111,670 | 896 |
| 29 | Jim Harbaugh | Michigan | $1,500,000 | $16,000 | $160,000 | 94 |
If you’re interested in betting on college football games, you can use this underdog promo code.
Top 5 College Coach Buyouts
1. Kirby Smart — Georgia ($105,107,583)
Tuition: $11,492
COACH Act Cap: $114,920
Ratio: ~915× higher than cap
Back-to-back national titles (2021–22); perennial top-5 finishes; record 81–15 (.844). Georgia’s dynasty-building under Smart has made him the gold standard — but also the poster child for federal reform advocates.
2. Jimbo Fisher — Texas A&M (Fired 2023) ($76,800,000)
Tuition: $10,934
COACH Act Cap: $109,340
Ratio: ~703× cap
45–25 record; one top-5 recruiting class after another but little on-field return. Fisher’s record-setting payout became a financial cautionary tale, spotlighting how guaranteed contracts can backfire on even the wealthiest athletic departments. Despite occurring 3 years ago (when buyouts were tamer), Jimbo Fisher’s remains one of the largest buyouts in history.
3. Ryan Day — Ohio State ($70,916,667)
Tuition: $13,641
COACH Act Cap: $136,410
Ratio: ~520× cap
3 Big Ten titles, 3 CFP trips; 56–8 record — but repeated losses to Michigan raised pressure. Day’s results rival any coach in America, but his massive buyout underscores how even elite consistency comes at a staggering cost.
4. Lincoln Riley — USC ($70,000,000, est.)
Tuition: $75,162 (private)
COACH Act Cap: $751,620
Ratio: ~93× cap
Offensive powerhouse, Heisman winner Caleb Williams, but defensive woes kept USC out of CFP contention. As a private school, USC faces less scrutiny, yet Riley’s estimated buyout highlights the same imbalance driving public debate.
5. Kalen DeBoer — Alabama ($60,843,750)
Tuition: $12,484
COACH Act Cap: $124,840
Ratio: ~488× cap
2023 National Championship runner-up with Washington; now tasked with following Nick Saban’s legacy. Alabama’s fully guaranteed contract for a new SEC hire shows that even federal pressure may not slow college football’s spending spree.
Methodology
This ranking compiles publicly available buyout data as of late 2025, using FOIA releases, contract filings, and verified reports. Figures include both current active coaches and recently terminated contracts whose payouts were completed or announced between 2022–2025.
Definition of “Buyout”
Total guaranteed compensation owed if terminated without cause at the end of 2025.
Includes base pay, retention bonuses, and deferred incentives.
For “past” coaches (e.g., Jimbo Fisher, Ed Orgeron, Charlie Weis), represents the actual payout total at termination.
Sources
- USA Today NCAA Coaches Salary Database (2024–2025 edition)
- Sports Illustrated (SI.com) — annual buyout and salary report (2025)
- On3.com — “Coaching Buyouts and Extensions Tracker” (updated Oct. 2025)
- ESPN.com — reporting on firings and official payouts (2023–2025)
- CBS Sports — contract clauses and extensions database (2025)
- Yahoo Sports — supplemental reporting on Clemson, Georgia, and Alabama contracts
- School filings and public university databases (where available: Georgia, LSU, Florida State, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri)
- Local beat reporting from The Athletic, AL.com, Lexington Herald-Leader, and Austin American-Statesman
- Program-specific FOIA summaries (Penn State, Kentucky, Oregon)
- Industry analysis via Front Office Sports and Sportico
- Tuition data sourced from official university websites (in-state tuition and fees used).
The True Cost of Winning
College football’s financial arms race shows no signs of slowing — but the proposed COACH Act could change that. If enacted, it would cap athletic department pay at ten times a school’s annual tuition and fees, effectively redefining what universities can justify paying their coaches.
Under that formula, Kirby Smart’s $105 million buyout at Georgia would exceed the proposed federal limit by more than 900 times, and even mid-tier programs like Kansas would breach it by nearly 90×. In short, nearly every major public university in the FBS would be out of compliance.
Supporters say the cap would restore balance between education and athletics, ensuring taxpayer-supported schools prioritize students over sideline salaries. Critics argue it’s an overreach — that coaches’ market value reflects the billions in revenue their programs generate.
Still, the data makes one thing clear: the gap between academic spending and athletic spending has never been wider.