When In Doubt, Fire The Coach | Defector

"Fantasy football is dying, and here's the proof. The hottest new way to spend the day after a game is to see which team is firing their coach, with the tiebreaker being how much of a buyout the fired coach will be paid. Well, that's the college tiebreaker. The pro tiebreaker is figuring out whether the general manager or the owner is doing the firing. Either way, trawling the waiver wire is out and Googling the interim head coach is in."

"Four big-ticket college and pro coaches got de-kneed over the weekend, and the college winner was Penn State's James Franklin, based first on his $49.7 million buyout (minus the usual onerous carveouts and offsets) and second on his career record of 104-45, and his more recent records of 34-8, 3-0, and 0-3. That first number represents his record over the previous three full seasons, the second in his first three games of this year, and the third covers the last three weeks."

"But let's be honest: the $49.7 million is the first tiebreaker for a reason, and that is that no school cannot afford to buy out a coach they hate, and as reports have it Franklin failed to reach kismet with big donor Terry Pegula (who owns the Buffalo Bills and Sabres among other sporty things). Not even Kirby Smart, whose buyout from Georgia is $101 million."

Coach firings have become a primary spectator pastime, with fans tracking dismissals and buyout amounts rather than waiver-wire moves. College firings prioritize buyout cost as the decisive factor, with large sums enabling schools to remove unpopular coaches despite records. Recent high-profile examples include Penn State's James Franklin with a $49.7 million buyout and others such as UAB's Trent Dilfer and Oregon State's Trent Bray with multimillion-dollar payouts. Donors and boosters exert decisive influence over firing decisions. Professional firings more commonly hinge on whether the general manager or owner initiates the move.

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