Coming off a division title that included a victory against its archrival, Auburn faced the prospect of losing its coach.
Who knows whether Gus Malzahn really wanted to return to his home state and become the football coach at SEC rival Arkansas, but Auburn’s leadership decided it did not want to chance it. Malzahn, who reportedly was going to lose his job if Auburn had lost to LSU in an early-season showdown (an Auburn victory that cost Les Miles his job), instead received a $49 million, seven-year contract, making him the fifth-highest paid coach in college football this season, according to USA Today‘s salary database.
Between the end of last season and the beginning of this season, 35 FBS schools—including 21 Power Five schools—made some type of amendment to their football coach’s contract.
The willingness of schools to modify, amend or re-do the contracts of their football coaches, handing out huge raises and building in hefty severance payments, has helped drive the rapid escalation of salaries in the sport.
In many cases, experts say, schools are unnecessarily aggressive in extending a coach, too quick to reward a small sampling of success, out-leveraged by agents, and driven by the fear of having to find a replacement.
Attorney Bob Lattinville, co-chairman of the St. Louis-based Spencer Fane LLP’s collegiate athletics legal team and his colleague, Roger Denny, did a review of contract extensions for football coaches at Power Five schools between Dec. 1, 2011 and Nov. 31, 2016, and concluded: “College football coach contracts are often prematurely renegotiated,” costing the schools.
