DeBoer just signed a HUGE extension at Bama

[Jaxcat]

7-years, $12.5M per year. Interesting that the buyout is 'only' $10M for 2 years and then reduces by $2M each of the next 5 years. They must really believe in that guy is all I can say to hand him >$12M per year. They're thinking, if some team wants him bad enough to pay more than us, no reason to handcuff him to our program.

I did NOT see that one coming. Thought the fanbase and perhaps the admin were less than pleased with losses and a butt-whipping in the CFP by Indiana. Guess not, huh?

[largebluej]

The buyout is the most interesting part to me. Seems incredibly low by SEC standards. Would like confirmation of those terms. Sounds more like the reverse buyout the coach would owe if he left early for another job.

[bthaunert]

7-years, $12.5M per year. Interesting that the buyout is 'only' $10M for 2 years and then reduces by $2M each of the next 5 years. They must really believe in that guy is all I can say to hand him >$12M per year. They're thinking, if some team wants him bad enough to pay more than us, no reason to handcuff him to our program.

I did NOT see that one coming. Thought the fanbase and perhaps the admin were less than pleased with losses and a butt-whipping in the CFP by Indiana. Guess not, huh?

The buyout you list is the buyout he would owe to Bama if he left for another job. The buyout that Bama would owe him is 90% of the remaining money on his contract if he was fired without cause. He would also still get the 90% even if he landed another job. Terrible contract imo...why these colleges keep handcuffing themselves with these long contracts knowing that money is at a premium nowadays is beyond me.

[Jaxcat]

The buyout you list is the buyout he would owe to Bama if he left for another job. The buyout that Bama would owe him is 90% of the remaining money on his contract if he was fired without cause. He would also still get the 90% even if he landed another job. Terrible contract imo...why these colleges keep handcuffing themselves with these long contracts knowing that money is at a premium nowadays is beyond me.

OK - that makes more sense. But, like you, I cannot fathom any reason why a program would handcuff themselves to any one coach. At a place like Alabama, I would think there are always going to be excellent coaches who want to coach there, especially now that Saban is gone. Tradition, seemingly unlimited financial resources, homegrown talent in-state and in multiple neighboring states, etc. While not every coach could win 10+ games every year as expected, there would certainly be several who'd want to give it a go. If DeBoer flames out in the next couple of years, Bama is going to be on the hook for 10s of millions - that's just a piss-poor management decision. While the salary seems stupidly high (pretty much all of P4 coaches are wildly overpaid, imo), the penalty to AL if they oust him early is unconscionable. Did Barnhart negotiate that contract, and by saying 'negotiate', I mean he bent over and said, 'Thank you, sir, may I have another?'

[largebluej]

The buyout you list is the buyout he would owe to Bama if he left for another job. The buyout that Bama would owe him is 90% of the remaining money on his contract if he was fired without cause. He would also still get the 90% even if he landed another job. Terrible contract imo...why these colleges keep handcuffing themselves with these long contracts knowing that money is at a premium nowadays is beyond me.

That is what I thought. Just terrible reporting in the ESPN article I read about the extension. And it was written by one of their most senior college FB guys, Mark Schlabach. The media is generally terrible, on matters important on all matters, important and trivial.

[bthaunert]

OK - that makes more sense. But, like you, I cannot fathom any reason why a program would handcuff themselves to any one coach. At a place like Alabama, I would think there are always going to be excellent coaches who want to coach there, especially now that Saban is gone. Tradition, seemingly unlimited financial resources, homegrown talent in-state and in multiple neighboring states, etc. While not every coach could win 10+ games every year as expected, there would certainly be several who'd want to give it a go. If DeBoer flames out in the next couple of years, Bama is going to be on the hook for 10s of millions - that's just a piss-poor management decision. While the salary seems stupidly high (pretty much all of P4 coaches are wildly overpaid, imo), the penalty to AL if they oust him early is unconscionable. Did Barnhart negotiate that contract, and by saying 'negotiate', I mean he bent over and said, 'Thank you, sir, may I have another?'

I think the success of Saban is going to be the death of that program. In his last 16 years (he was there 17), he lost more than 2 games only 1 time. Losing 4 games like DeBoer did in back-to-back seasons is not going to be tolerated for long. They are too far removed from the Mike Dubose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price and Mike Shula debacles the 9 years prior to Saban to have patience with that kind of record.