"Last year, an unprecedented three FBS coaches were fired during the first five weeks of the college football season. This season, five have lost their jobs in that same span.

Why it matters: These firings come at a steep cost, as it has become the norm for coaches to negotiate huge buyouts into their contracts that guarantee a substantial portion of their salary if they're canned.

By the numbers: The five universities that have fired their coaches this season all Power 5 programs owe them a total of $56.7 million in buyout money.

Scott Frost, Nebraska ($15 million buyout)
Karl Dorell, Colorado ($11.4 million buyout)
Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech ($11.3 million buyout)
Paul Chryst, Wisconsin ($11 million buyout)
Herm Edwards, Arizona State ($8 million buyout)

The big picture: Over the past decade, public universities have spent $530 million to fire college football coaches, per the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

That's an exorbitant sum to pay coaches to go away, but schools flush with cash from lucrative TV deals and rich boosters willing to write checks can afford it.

Consider this: Nebraska could have saved itself north of $8 million on Frost's buyout if they waited 20 days to fire him. They decided it wasn't worth it.

What they're saying: These ballooning buyout figures "reflect the backwards economic logic of college sports," writes WSJ's Laine Higgins.

"As long as the money isn't permitted to flow from schools to athletes, it has to be spent somewhere."
"Hiring a good coach or firing a bad one is seen as one of the most sound investments an athletic department can make."
-Axios

Could we get Chryst as a QC consultant? Call it an extended family visit. Let him review the O game plan and tear it apart. Get his imput on players via video review. The connection is there. Make it happen.

MilleniaBear said:

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Could we get Chryst as a QC consultant? Call it an extended family visit. Let him review the O game plan and tear it apart. Get his imput on players via video review. The connection is there. Make it happen.

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A solid for his brother!

bipolarbear said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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Could we get Chryst as a QC consultant? Call it an extended family visit. Let him review the O game plan and tear it apart. Get his imput on players via video review. The connection is there. Make it happen.

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A solid for his brother!

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Chryst was born in Madison and played QB for Wisconsin. He has taken whisky to a bowl every single year, many big ones, including the Rose Bowl in 2019. He went 9-4 last year, 6-3 in the B1G. He is 6-1 in bowl games with them. He is 67-26 (43-18) at Wisconsin.

It is unfathomable from a Cal perspective. Tedford was not an alum that was born in Berkeley, only went 50-45 in conference, and he is worshipped here. People were angry when he was fired. Imagine if he had been fired not even half way through the season in year 8? We have Wilcox, 16-26 in the PAC-12 vs B1G, locked up through year 11?

Chryst is 56. He will get offers after this season, but it would be great to bring him on to salvage this season and help us keep Ott. Ideally he would call plays from the booth.

calumnus said:

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bipolarbear said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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Could we get Chryst as a QC consultant? Call it an extended family visit. Let him review the O game plan and tear it apart. Get his imput on players via video review. The connection is there. Make it happen.

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A solid for his brother!

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Chryst was born in Madison and played QB for Wisconsin. He has taken whisky to a bowl every single year, many big ones, including the Rose Bowl in 2019. He went 9-4 last year, 6-3 in the B1G. He is 6-1 in bowl games with them. He is 67-26 (43-18) at Wisconsin.

It is unfathomable from a Cal perspective. Tedford was not an alum that was born in Berkeley, only went 50-45 in conference, and he is worshipped here. People were angry when he was fired. Imagine if he had been fired not even half way through the season in year 8? We have Wilcox, 16-26 in the PAC-12 vs B1G, locked up through year 11?

Chryst is 56. He will get offers after this season, but it would be great to bring him on to salvage this season and help us keep Ott. Ideally he would call plays from the booth.

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He took the 11 million so he would not have to work right away - it voided his requirement to find equivalent work. The payout otherwise would have been 19.5 million.

Oski87 said:

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calumnus said:

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bipolarbear said:

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MilleniaBear said:

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Could we get Chryst as a QC consultant? Call it an extended family visit. Let him review the O game plan and tear it apart. Get his imput on players via video review. The connection is there. Make it happen.

---

A solid for his brother!

---

Chryst was born in Madison and played QB for Wisconsin. He has taken whisky to a bowl every single year, many big ones, including the Rose Bowl in 2019. He went 9-4 last year, 6-3 in the B1G. He is 6-1 in bowl games with them. He is 67-26 (43-18) at Wisconsin.

It is unfathomable from a Cal perspective. Tedford was not an alum that was born in Berkeley, only went 50-45 in conference, and he is worshipped here. People were angry when he was fired. Imagine if he had been fired not even half way through the season in year 8? We have Wilcox, 16-26 in the PAC-12 vs B1G, locked up through year 11?

Chryst is 56. He will get offers after this season, but it would be great to bring him on to salvage this season and help us keep Ott. Ideally he would call plays from the booth.

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He took the 11 million so he would not have to work right away - it voided his requirement to find equivalent work. The payout otherwise would have been 19.5 million.

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Does that make him more or less likely to come out and help his brother and former DC for the rest of the season?

Wilcox is owed $25 million on his contract. Wonder what the buyout is and might be negotiated down to?

As Wilcox said in his press conference earlier this week, he has no desire whatsoever to seek outside help, even if it might help his team's performance.

Dgoldnbaer said:

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As Wilcox said in his press conference earlier this week, he has no desire whatsoever to seek outside help, even if it might help his team's performance.

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More specifically, he said he would not be bringing in outside help and that they have all of the knowledge they need. With know-all-ton running the ADs office, can he be wrong?

Wilcox's biggest downfall may be that he is too proud and independent to admit he needs help. He just doesn't strike me as a guy that would ask for help, even if he fell down a well. He would spend the rest of his life clawing his way out before crying out for help. I think this is the problem we are dealing with here.

Anybody who knows him well care to differ?

heartofthebear said:

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Dgoldnbaer said:

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As Wilcox said in his press conference earlier this week, he has no desire whatsoever to seek outside help, even if it might help his team's performance.

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More specifically, he said he would not be bringing in outside help and that they have all of the knowledge they need. With know-all-ton running the ADs office, can he be wrong?

Wilcox's biggest downfall may be that he is too proud and independent to admit he needs help. He just doesn't strike me as a guy that would ask for help, even if he fell down a well. He would spend the rest of his life clawing his way out before crying out for help. I think this is the problem we are dealing with here.

Anybody who knows him well care to differ?

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For me the fact he hired two head coaches to be his coordinators when he himself was a first time head coach made it seem like he was looking for advice / assistance on how to be a head coach, or at the very least had enough confidence to be working with people who had more experience than him under him.

To me this seems more of a loyalty issue. Loyalty is great and vibes really well with the recruits, and by all accounts Wilcox is extremely loyal.

Just seems to be loyal to a fault. Holding onto buddies who are ineffective too long as coaches. He had basically 3 Defensive coordinators and 3 head coaches on his staff at one point. This isn't about ego for him. Its about ego/reputation for his coaches. I would guess that he's more concerned about throwing Musgrave under the bus than he is about his own reputation.

MrGPAC said:

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heartofthebear said:

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Dgoldnbaer said:

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As Wilcox said in his press conference earlier this week, he has no desire whatsoever to seek outside help, even if it might help his team's performance.

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More specifically, he said he would not be bringing in outside help and that they have all of the knowledge they need. With know-all-ton running the ADs office, can he be wrong?

Wilcox's biggest downfall may be that he is too proud and independent to admit he needs help. He just doesn't strike me as a guy that would ask for help, even if he fell down a well. He would spend the rest of his life clawing his way out before crying out for help. I think this is the problem we are dealing with here.

Anybody who knows him well care to differ?

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For me the fact he hired two head coaches to be his coordinators when he himself was a first time head coach made it seem like he was looking for advice / assistance on how to be a head coach, or at the very least had enough confidence to be working with people who had more experience than him under him.

To me this seems more of a loyalty issue. Loyalty is great and vibes really well with the recruits, and by all accounts Wilcox is extremely loyal.

Just seems to be loyal to a fault. Holding onto buddies who are ineffective too long as coaches. He had basically 3 Defensive coordinators and 3 head coaches on his staff at one point. This isn't about ego for him. Its about ego/reputation for his coaches. I would guess that he's more concerned about throwing Musgrave under the bus than he is about his own reputation.

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Understood and makes sense