In 2021, James Franklin started 5-0 on the year, and his team climbed up to the number 4 team in the Nation. Rumors were beginning to swirl that USC was going to fire Head Coach Clay Helton. Rumors were reported that Franklin would be interested in that job. Franklin's new agent, Jimmy Sexton, went to work on the rumor and started to work on a contract extension for Franklin.
Eventually, they negotiated a 10-year, 75 million deal, fully guaranteed. By the end of the season, Franklin and Penn State limped to a 7-5 regular-season finish, but Franklin had already had his contract guaranteed. Fast forward to Sunday, Penn State fired him and now must pay him a 56 million buyout over several years.
James Franklin gets $50m to go away. Jimbo got $70m. The best job in America is to be a college football coach who gets fired. pic.twitter.com/vFfzBkSeVt
— Craig Miller (@junior_miller) October 12, 2025
I share this story to show you how outrageous these contracts get so quickly. Almost every Penn State fan at the time did not think he deserved that extension. What is the urgency? If he left for USC, Penn State couldn’t find another coach? You're freaking Penn State, you're bigger than James Franklin. Why couldn’t you just give him a smaller contract with fewer years? Or even make it partially guaranteed?
This is a constant problem across all of College Football as these Athletic Directors always feel the pressure to give extensions. Then the agents get involved, and they destroy the athletic directors in negotiations. If we were keeping score, it would be agents 100-Athletic Directors 0. That’s how out of control these contracts are. This has happened repeatedly.
Schools in similar situations are Wisconsin with Luke Fickell (25 million buyout, after he got a one-year extension this offseason), Billy Napier in Florida (just under 20 million buyout), and the current godfather of all buyouts, Florida State Head Coach Mike Norvell (58 million buyout). These 3 coaches have a combined record of 7-9, and it still could get much worse, but if they were fired this year, they would be owed a combined 103 million. 103 MILLION!!
Luke Fickell’s message to a frustrated #Badgers fan base: pic.twitter.com/HsI5PgyDpV
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) October 13, 2025
The biggest buyout ever was for 76 million by Texas A&M to get rid of head coach Jimbo Fisher. 76 MILLION. College Athletic Directors need to look at themselves in the mirror and realize that they need to stop the insanity of giving out these massive contracts. Make them earn the contract. If they have success, don’t reward them with a new contract; just tell them that is what is expected. Paying these head coaches millions of dollars in buyout money is irresponsible and wrong.