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Ten FBS coaches have been fired since the start of the 2025 season. That includes openings at some of the country’s biggest programs: Penn State, LSU and Florida. And being a fired college football doesn’t seem all that bad.
The combined buyouts are pushing $170 million, according to contracts and term sheets obtained by USA TODAY Sports. And it won’t be long until we reach $200 million.
Brian Kelly and James Franklin’s $50 million buyouts are doing most of that lift, rivaling Jimbo Fisher’s $76.8 million Texas A&M gave him to go away as the largest buyouts in college football history.
Here’s a look at the buyouts for the 10 coaches fired so far this season:
College football 2025 fired coaches buyouts
These buyouts may be subject to coaches’ duty to mitigate by getting new jobs with the firing schools getting to offset the buyouts based on the new employment income.
- Brian Kelly, LSU, $53 million
- James Franklin, Penn State $49 million
- Billy Napier, Florida, $21 million
- Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State, $15 million
- Sam Pittman, Arkansas, $9.3 million
- Brent Pry, Virginia Tech, $6.8 million
- DeShaun Foster, UCLA, $6.4 million
- Trent Bray, Oregon State, ~$4 million
- Trent Dilfer, UAB, $3 million
- Jay Norvell, Colorado State, $1.5 million
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