In college football, a frustrated fan base can start dreaming about a coaching change fast. The problem is that dream can come with a price tag so steep it stops the conversation cold.
That’s the reality at a handful of major programs, where contract buyouts have turned the idea of firing a head coach into a financial nightmare. Here are five coaches whose deals could make moving on extremely difficult.
Dabo Swinney’s buyout was reported by USAToday last December at $60 million. Clemson has gone 11-8 over the last season and a half, and the program looks a long way from the dominant stretch it enjoyed in the late 2010s. But the cost of paying Swinney and then bringing in another big-name coach leaves Clemson boxed in until the school decides it has no choice but to absorb a huge financial hit.
Texas got a brief reprieve after its comeback win over Ole Miss, but the pressure isn’t gone. The Longhorns still have losses to Oklahoma and Florida, and one more bad result could knock them out of the College Football Playoff picture.
With Texas now facing two decades without a title, Steve Sarkisian isn’t exactly riding a wave of goodwill. His buyout is reported at just over $60 million, which makes a change far easier to imagine than to actually carry out.
At Colorado, the Coach Prime era has not held up well. Since the Travis Hunter/Shedeur Sanders team, Deion Sanders is 5-14, and the Buffaloes appear to be going nowhere. His buyout was reported at over $33 million as of late last year, a hefty number for a program that doesn’t have the added money flowing in from the Big Ten or SEC.
Mike Norvell’s situation at Florida State is hard to ignore, even after the kind of season that should have set things up differently. After a 2023 campaign in which the Seminoles just missed the four-team playoff, his team has been a train wreck.
Norvell is 10-21 since then, while Miami has become nationally competitive and Florida has started to emerge as a team worth watching. Still, he remains in place, and as of late 2025 his buyout was reportedly around $58 million.
Matt Rhule’s seat has cooled with Nebraska sitting at 5-2, but the larger picture still matters. Rhule is 24-21 with the Huskers, and it isn’t difficult to picture the administration considering a different direction. The obstacle is obvious: his buyout was reported at just under $50 million late last year.
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Deion Sanders Doubles Down As Latest Buffs Backlash Builds
Deion Sanders spent part of this week trying to clean up a comment that quickly took on a life of its own, and the Colorado coach made clear he was not actually offering anybody money to stop talking about him. He said the $50,000 line was meant as a joke about someone profiting off his name and brand, but once it landed in the wider conversation, it became another flashpoint around a program that rarely goes long without one.
The remark resurfaced again at his weekly news conference before Colorado hosts Kansas State, where Sanders stuck to the same message: he does not pay people to avoid criticism, and he was misinterpreted. The larger point sounded familiar from him, too, because criticism has followed much of his career and he said he remains unapologetic about what he says and does. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado's New Frontcourt Has To Fix What Sank The Buffs
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Eric Jacobsen is part of that conversation too, even if the first-year forward is still easing his way back from a torn ACL. His adjustment to the physicality of Big 12 play is still underway, which makes the early-season frontcourt rotation even more interesting for Colorado. However the minutes shake out, the Buffs need their new pieces to help stabilize a defense that has to be better if the season is going to go anywhere. [Read more 🡒]
Colorados First Big 12 Win May Hinge On One Kansas State Decision
Colorados search for its first Big 12 win could end up tied to one decision in Manhattan, where Kansas State is still sorting through the health of quarterback Avery Johnson. The Buffaloes already know the challenge he presents when hes available: he drives the Wildcats offense as both their top passer and their top runner, which makes him the kind of dual threat that can stress a defense on every snap.
Colorados plan, at least in theory, is to keep Johnson bottled up in the pocket and force him to win with his arm. But Kansas State has been dealing with quarterback injuries beyond Johnson, and even if he is cleared to play, theres no guarantee hell look or play the same way he normally does. For a Colorado defense trying to steady itself in conference play, the difference between an injured Johnson and no Johnson at all could shape the whole afternoon. [Read more 🡒]