Top 5 most ridiculous coaching buyouts in college football

1. Kirk Ferentz – Iowa Hawkeyes

Finding himself at No. 1 in our list of most ridiculous buyouts in college football is coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, Kirk Ferentz. Throughout the years covering college football, I had always heard that Ferentz’s contract basically made him invincible if Iowa wanted to fire him. After looking into his buyout, I think it is safe to say he won’t be fired anytime soon. Kirk Ferentz will be able to stay as long as he desires at Iowa.

Ranking 13th overall in salary, the buyout for Ferentz is $22,537,500. If you look at solely the dollar amount, then it doesn’t seem like such a tall order. But if you consider Iowa as a university and the success, or lack thereof, it can easily be determined to be too high of a buyout for Ferentz.

Ferentz has been the head coach of Iowa for two decades. During those two decades, he has only held a handful of 10-win seasons. Ten win seasons at Iowa should be happening more often than one out of every four years, especially with the stability Ferentz has provided over the years. So, he has had mild success at Iowa, but when the season turns bad, it turns really bad. Iowa has never been known as a powerhouse program nor one that can legitimately compete on a yearly basis in the top 25.

After years of experience and familiarity with the program, surely Ferentz can do better than he has. By no means has he proven he deserves half of the buyout currently in his back pocket. Ferentz’s buyout should be more like $9,000,000 instead of the $22,537,500 it sits at today. I just don’t see how Iowa can justify that clause.

Of course, Iowa won’t be firing him anytime soon, if at all, due to the massive chunk of cash the university would have to come up with. It goes to show that good lawyers and agents during contract negotiations make all the difference.