DENVER — We don’t need to tell any CU Buffs fans it’s been a rough season. The team is 0-5, and the losses have not been pretty. To many, the writing has been on the wall that then-head coach Karl Dorrell’s days at the University of Colorado Boulder were numbered. Then, early this month, the announcement came — he would no longer lead the Buffs.
Per Dorrell’s contract, he is entitled to an $11.4 million buyout, minus money he has already been paid this year — according to a news release from the University of Colorado, it’ll be around $8.7 million. No doubt, it’s a lot of money, but it’s not out of line with the industry.
InvestigateTV did a lot of number crunching last month to gauge the scope of college coaches and their contractual buyouts (as lawyers call them, “reciprocal liquidated damages clauses”). According to their reporting, 21 coaches were fired or resigned last year due to poor performance, and they were paid out a cumulative $63.2 million. Hypothetically, if every public university was to fire its football coach this year, they would owe more than $1 billion in buyouts.
That’s a lot of money to be paid not to work. As attorney Bill Robers explained, though, there’s more to the story.
“I know people look at it and say, "You’re coaching a dumb sport, why are you making this much money?" It’s a very difficult job, and it’s extremely unstable,” said Robers, who has represented both coaches and schools in contract negotiations. “Coaches will leave to go to what they consider to be a better school — maybe it’s their alma mater, or maybe it’s just a bigger school. That leaves the school a little bit high and dry, they have to go find another coach.
“From a coach’s perspective, it’s not just the salary [they’re losing]… The coach’s reputation is now severely diminished. They may have to move again.”
Ergo, both coaches and schools agree to pay a lot of money if they decide to ditch each other early. You can think of the buyout as an insurance policy, of sorts, for both the coach and school. If things don’t work out, on either side, the buyout is designed to insulate the other party from damages they will incur after the separation. Had CU waited just a few more months and let Dorrell go in January, it would have owed him substantially less: $7.8 million, according to his contract.
Sometimes, though, a higher price tag is worth every dime if it can convince fans, boosters, and future players watching that the team means business.