TCU’s board of trustees is set to meet this week in the wake of chancellor Daniel Pullin’s resignation and Victor Boschini’s return, and Sonny Dykes will be part of the conversation. The school’s highest-paid employee is on the agenda as TCU weighs a budget that will shape the athletic department’s future while college sports keeps forcing schools to spend like never before.
That is the reality now for TCU and plenty of other Power Four programs. Kansas, Clemson, Colorado, California - the list goes on.
These are schools with big football bills, restless fan bases and very little appetite for another season that goes nowhere. In the old world, a coach’s buyout was the cleanest escape hatch.
In the new one, that decision is messier because the players are on the bill, too.
TCU already adjusted Dykes’ contract in the spring, adding years in exchange for a lower buyout number that has become a constant talking point. The school can afford a lot, but not without limits.
Its endowment stands at $2.9 billion, up 80 percent over the last five years according to the Business Journal, and university leadership has preferred to leave that money alone except for the usual payout that covers annual expenses. That endowment is not sitting there as a quick fix for a coaching change or a transfer portal splash.
The spending pressure around the university has only grown. Enrollment and tuition have both climbed over the last decade, but so have the costs of major campus projects.
TCU added a medical school and has also pushed toward Carnegie R1 classification, the designation for schools that grant doctoral degrees and have “very high research activity.” That medical school is still years from paying off, and the R1 chase is expensive, long and not guaranteed.
TCU and Wake Forest are the only two schools in the P4 that are not R1.
At the same time, college athletics has shifted into a pay-for-play model with almost no restrictions, and the money involved in coaching salaries has only made the whole thing more expensive. Athletic department finances may be separate on paper, but they still live under the same university umbrella. Paying off a coach, then paying the next one, then covering the transition costs for an entire staff is not a move TCU - or Kansas, Colorado, Clemson and the rest - wants to make lightly.
That is why the question around Dykes is bigger than wins and losses. It is also about whether eating a buyout is worth it when the team’s football program is supposed to be the school’s most visible marketing tool, and instead can become a drag on everything else.
Florida State already made that call with Mike Norvell, firing him and taking on his $50 million buyout.
For now, TCU still has reasons to hold off. The Horned Frogs host Kansas State at 1 p.m.
Saturday in Fort Worth in a matchup between two teams trying to avoid the bottom of the Big 12. The temperature is expected to be in the mid-60s, but the forecast for the game is “Depressing with a 90 percent chance of booing.”
TCU is a 10-point favorite and can move to 4-5, one win from bowl eligibility with two games left after that. Still, the game itself is hardly the main attraction. The real storyline is Dykes’ future.
TCU does not want to fire him, and money is a major reason why. He has lost support with a large part of the fan base, but he still has people inside the program who believe in him.
He can point to the modern college football landscape and say a good team is going to drop two or three games. He can also point to his own team being “close,” even if the record tells the harsher truth: five losses by one score, with an offense that has been the biggest problem.
Now there is one more layer to the debate. Starting next season, the playoffs expand from 12 to 24 teams, a move announced Monday. That change will be part of the discussion too as TCU’s board meets this week and decides whether moving on from Dykes is worth the cost.
In Other News...
Rockies Face A Jake McCarthy Decision That Could Shape Their Offseason
Jake McCarthy gave the Rockies exactly the kind of spark they were hoping for when they brought him over from Arizona in January, and his first season in Denver quickly made him one of the more interesting pieces on the roster. He settled in as a steady offensive presence and helped fill a leadoff role that had been a problem area, giving Colorado a clearer idea of what he can mean to the lineup going forward.
The question now is how that value fits into an offseason built around a much bigger need. Colorado still has to find ways to shore up its starting rotation, and with president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta making it clear the club will pursue pitching through multiple channels, every roster decision carries extra weight. McCarthys name is part of that conversation, even if no move has been made, and it is the kind of choice that could end up shaping the rest of the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies May Finally Have A Different Plan For Their Pitching Mess
The Rockies have spent much of this season trying to prove their new front office can move the organization in a better direction, and the early signs have been more encouraging on offense than on the mound. Key additions have helped the lineup look more functional, but the pitching side has remained the bigger obstacle, which is why the club has started to lean harder into a different kind of fix.
A coaching change is part of that shift, with Ethan Katz now tasked with helping a staff that has struggled to find reliable answers. Free agency does not offer many obvious solutions, so the Rockies appear headed toward a blend of data-driven evaluation and roster turnover as they keep searching for a workable plan. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Still Face One Problem New Leadership Can't Fix
The Rockies have spent the winter trying to reset the organization from the top down, adding Penner Sports Group as a minority ownership partner and bringing in Paul DePodesta to run baseball operations. With some veteran money coming off the books and a little more financial flexibility, the front office has more room to work than it did a year ago, which at least gives Colorado a cleaner path forward as it plans for the future.
Still, the hardest part of the rebuild is the one no new executive can simply wave away. Colorado has to convince impact free agents that it is a place to win and a place where pitchers can survive, and those are steep sells even with a fresh leadership structure in place. The Rockies need help on the mound most of all, but the combination of recent struggles and the realities of Coors Field means the club may have to keep looking for answers in-house and through smaller moves rather than a splashy market fix. [Read more 🡒]