There’s a ton of money floating around college football, and head coaches make a lot with monster contracts that deliver them millions of dollars. Sometimes, college football coaches are even the highest-paid public employees in their respective states.
With their huge contracts also come very large buyouts — the money a school would owe the coach if it decided to fire him without cause. And it can sometimes be enough money to force a school to ride it out a little longer, rather than cough up several million dollars.
So how much would Penn State have to pay James Franklin if the Nittany Lions ever decided to fire their head coach?
Franklin — who has been the Nittany Lions’ head coach since 2014 — has the sixth-largest buyout among college football coaches as of 2024, according to USA TODAY Sports’ database of salaries and contracts. As of December 1, 2024, Franklin’s buyout is $56,666,667.
That’s definitely not the largest — Georgia’s Kirby Smart has the biggest buyout at $118,083,333 — but still a huge chunk of change if Penn State ever decided to fire Franklin.
