Gus Malzahn has been an SEC stable for the last eight seasons at Auburn. He was one of the few coaches who has been mildly successful record against Alabama’s Nick Saban. But a lot of his top accomplishments happened early in his tenure with the Tigers. His teams had fallen back into the SEC’s middle ground over these last couple of years. Malzahn’s latest team certainly didn’t do him any favors, either, finishing 6 and 4 in this COVID shortened season.
This lack of recent success made it rather hard to justify continuing his massive 2017 extension. Auburn agreed and fired Malzahn early last week with four years left on his deal. Both parties seemed to feel it was time for a new direction. But there’s one enormous repercussion to firing a coach of his stature, which is a rather large buyout clause.
It was one of the main reasons that many experts felt Auburn would wait an additional year before pulling the trigger. But the university felt Malzahn’s time being their head coach had run its course, and the team needed new blood. It was clear that this massive buyout clause would have to be exercised and dealt with by the university.
But how does much Auburn have to pay Malzahn over these next four years? Let’s start by looking at his contract details and breaking down what he stood to make. It’ll provide an excellent starting point before diving into the more complicated buyout discussions.
Gus Malzahnās Contract Details
The first thing to understand about Gus Malzahn’s contract is its set up differently from most other College Football coaches. In most cases, these types of deals will separate compensation into two categories (base salary and additional income for coaching duties).
But Auburn split Malzahn’s salary into three with additional money sent to him for offering the university control over his endorsement rights. Here’s what his yearly compensation ended up looking look at Auburn:
Total Guaranteed Compensation
Base Salary:
- $500,000 (every year)
Payment for Coaching Duties:
- 2018-2019: $3,100,000
- 2019-2020: $3,150,000
- 2020-2021: $3,200,000
- 2021-2022: $3,250,000
- 2022-2023: $3,300,000
- 2023-2024: $3,350,000
- 2024-2025: $3,400,000
Payment for Personal Endorsement Rights:
- 2018-2019: $3,100,000
- 2019-2020: $3,150,000
- 2020-2021: $3,200,000
- 2021-2022: $3,250,000
- 2022-2023: $3,300,000
- 2023-2024: $3,350,000
- 2024-2025: $3,400,000
Total Compensation:
- 2018-2019: $6,700,000
- 2019-2020: $6,800,000
- 2020-2021: $6,900,000
- 2021-2022: $7,000,000
- 2022-2023: $7,100,000
- 2023-2024: $7,200,000
- 2024-2025: $7,300,000
These earnings put Malzahn high up among head coaches ‘ salaries within College Football. In 2019-2020, he was the 6th highest paid within his field. Auburn was on the hook to pay a top-tier compensation for likely mediocre performance for several more years. Due to this, he was fired with an additional $28,600,000 left on his deal.
Luckily, Auburn does save a bit of money as they don’t have to dish out every penny of this leftover cash. His contract detailed that the university would have to pay a specific portion of it rather than all remaining guaranteed compensation.
How Much will Malzahn’s Buyout Cost?
Malzahn’s buyout clause states that Auburn has to pay 75% of his total leftover compensation ($28,600,000). As a result, he will end up receiving an outrageous $21,450,000 to ensure he never needs another College Football head coaching job again.
Some other interesting details include Auburn having to pay half of it ($10,275,000) within thirty days of his dismissal. Meanwhile, the other half will come in annual installments of about $2,680,000 over these next four years.
If Malzahn accepts a job elsewhere, he doesn’t even have to forfeit any of this money. Some coaches find themselves stuck after being fired because of buyout terms prohibiting them from finding another head coaching job. But Malzahn can get a new job anywhere he desires without any consequences. He will see every penny regardless of whether Auburn wants to pay.