There’s Never Enough Money
By Mark Nagi
I’m not sure if you have been paying attention to college football lately, but it’s a mess… and a big reason is finances. The money involved is absurd… and keeps getting worse.
Penn State recently fired head coach James Franklin, only a few weeks after the Nittany Lions were ranked in the top 5. But losses to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern spelled his doom.
Franklin went 104-45 in his 11+ years in State College, but his struggles against quality opponents eventually became too much for Penn State fans, boosters, and administrators to take. Penn State went a very underwhelming 16-29 against ranked opponents, and even worse, 4-21 against Top 10 teams under Franklin.
But… his consolation prize is incredible. Franklin will receive nearly $50 million… to not coach the Nittany Lions. The buyout life, as always, is undefeated.
This is believed to be the second-largest buyout in the history of college football, still well behind the $76 million given to Jimbo Fisher by Texas A&M a few years ago. That move by the Aggies seems to have paid off, as Fisher’s replacement, Mike Elko, has Texas A&M as a serious contender for SEC and National Championships in this, his second year in College Station.
$76 million is, of course, a gargantuan number, but Texas A&M’s thinking was that they couldn’t afford NOT to make a move. A mediocre team, which is what the Aggies were under Fisher, can’t recruit well, can’t fundraise well, can struggle to sell tickets, etc.
But if you do the dismissal, you’ve gotta make the right hire. It appears that the Aggies have done so.
If Penn State finds the correct person, its decision to replace Franklin will be considered a wise and prudent move. But there’s no guarantee they will find that guy. It took Tennessee five tries before finding Josh Heupel after firing Phillip Fulmer.
The top choice for Penn State was likely Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, who has unexpectedly made the Hoosiers a winner. Cignetti led Indiana to the College Football Playoff in his first season in Bloomington, and this season, they should be in the CFB playoff once again.
Indiana football. We are talking about Indiana football.
But Indiana wasn’t going to let Penn State get close to Cignetti. Last week, they reached a new 8-year contract for Cignetti, which will pay him an average of approximately $11.6 million annually.
If I were to tell you even two years ago that the head football coach at Indiana would be turning down an opportunity to be the head football coach at Penn State, you’d think we were living in an alternate universe.
But you know what? We are living in an alternate universe. A college football universe in which the depth of your pockets means as much as wins and losses.
Stadium renovations, complex upgrades, NIL payments… and the crazy coaching contracts and buyouts that have done nothing but increase, with no end in sight.
At Tennessee, athletics director Danny White is trying to squeeze every dime out of boosters and fans. They plan to convert the G-10 parking garage into the Neyland Stadium entertainment district. That would entail the construction of what’s being called a “condotel,” featuring 60 luxury condos, a restaurant/bar, a conference center, and more.
Neyland Stadium has gone through massive upgrades in recent years, but issues like long lines at entry and significant backups inside the concourse need to be addressed.
For better or worse… this isn’t the Tennessee you’ve grown up with, but it means more money coming into the university and the athletics department.
Good thing… because there’s never enough money.
