US LBM Coaches Poll: University of Oklahoma claims playoff berth
Paul Meyerberg analyzes the latest US LBM Coaches Poll and discusses the Oklahoma Sooners’ push toward the playoffs.
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Mike Norvell has officially avoided the college football coaching buyout pit and extended his tenure at Florida State University by at least another year.
It’s worth it. We’re not talking millions.
“I love Florida State,” Norvell said in a statement Sunday. “And I am fully committed to this program and our common goals.”
Probably it won’t last long. Nor would his status place him among the professional elite.
Of the top 10 coach acquisitions in college football history, only two coaches returned to lead a team in another power conference: James Franklin (Virginia Tech) and Charlie Weis (Kansas State).
Welcome to the world where you walk away with millions and millions of dollars. And most likely, your famous career will unofficially end.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from colleges paying exorbitant buyouts to failed coaches, it’s that fired coaches have a hard time returning to the pros. And even if it does, it certainly won’t be on the same level.
Whether it’s the unpleasant idea of paying a failed coach millions more after being given a golden parachute, or because the coach’s weaknesses have been exposed, colleges are reluctant to give second chances with high-priced coaches.
This undeniable trend would be even uglier than it is now if Franklin hadn’t parted with a large portion of his $49 million buyout from Penn State to take the Virginia Tech job.
Let’s take a look at the top 10 buyouts in college football and where each coach landed.
1. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
Acquisition: $76.8 million
aftermath: He missed the past two seasons, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t trying to find a job. He wanted the West Virginia job at the end of 2024, but it went to Rich Rodriguez.
Fisher has a career winning percentage of .727 in 14 years at FSU and Texas A&M. He won a national title at FSU in 2013 and has won four major bowls. And he’s no closer to getting a job than he was when Texas A&M paid him severance.
2. Brian Kelly, LSU
Acquisition: $53.8 million
aftermath: LSU officials say he has been fired twice. Or is it just once? Because LSU said he wasn’t officially fired the first time in late October, but this time — late last week — you better believe they’ll fire him (this is a matter of Louisiana politics). Kelly, 64, released a statement two weeks ago saying he wanted to continue coaching after his failure at LSU.
He is the winningest coach in Notre Dame history and has found success everywhere he has coached (.725 winning percentage in 22 seasons with major college programs). But if he’s in the middle of a lawsuit with LSU, no one will touch him.
3. James Franklin, Penn State University
Acquisition: 49 million dollars.
aftermath: Franklin quickly returned to contention by accepting the Virginia Tech job, but only after giving up all but $9 million of Penn State’s buyout funds to do so. Franklin won 104 games in 12 seasons at Penn State and nine consecutive wins at Vanderbilt, the program’s best record until this year’s team won Saturday’s ninth game.
4. Gus Malzahn (Auburn)
Acquisition: $21.4 million
aftermath: Malzahn, who was fired at the end of 2020, took a job at UCF, which was still a member of the American Conference. He resigned after four years to take the role of offensive coordinator at FSU, likely ahead of further firings.
5. Billy Napier, Florida
Acquisition: $21.2 million
aftermath: Napier, who was waived by Florida State in late October, has since shown up at Georgia practice, but Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said it was because the two are close friends.
Napier’s only job before the three-and-a-half years in Florida was a four-year stint in Louisiana. He has 62 wins in 97 career games and will likely have to work his way up as an assistant coach to get back into the business.
6. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame
Acquisition: $18.9 million
aftermath: Notre Dame, a longtime leader in the buyout industry, fired Weiss after the 2009 season. He took an assistant coaching position with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and an assistant coaching position at Florida under coach Will Muschamp.
Weiss was hired by Kansas in 2012 and eventually returned as a power conference coach, but he was fired four games into the 2014 season and hasn’t coached since.
7. Willie Taggart, Florida
Acquisition: $18 million
aftermath: Taggart arrived in Tallahassee after one season at Oregon State, where Fisher made a mess in Tallahassee’s locker room and classroom. Mr. Taggart spent most of his time getting his players into hands-on classes (at the time, classes were meaningful) and coached 21 games at FSU before being fired with a 9-12 record.
He transferred to FAU, but was let go after three years with a 16-20 record. Taggart has been the running backs coach for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens since 2023.
8. Ed Orgeron, LSU
Acquisition: $16.9 million
aftermath: Orgeron won a national title at LSU in 2019, in part because he convinced Ohio State backup quarterback Joe Burrow to transfer to Baton Rouge. Orgeron was unable to recreate the magic of the most prolific offense of the modern era and was fired in October 2021.
Orgeron hasn’t coached since then, but that’s not because he didn’t want to go back to the pros. He now says he is interested in returning to LSU as a position coach.
9. Tom Allen, Indiana
Acquisition: $15.5 million
aftermath: The high water mark was the 2020 pandemic season, when the Big Ten changed its return-to-play rules to send Ohio State to the conference championship game ahead of Indiana.
Allen won eight games in 2019 and six of eight in 2020, and IU threw a hell of a lot of money at a coach who looked like a bargain at the basketball school. Allen won nine games over the next three seasons and was fired. Since then, he has been the defensive coordinator at Penn State and Clemson.
10. Tom Herman, Texas
Acquisition: $15.4 million
aftermath: Herman, once the game’s hottest young coach, was fired after the 2020 season after four years in the sport’s top job. He went 32-18 and had a 10-win season (and one bowl win over Georgia) in 2018, when the program seemed to be turning around.
After the Texas War, he took a job with the NFL’s Chicago Bears as an analyst, then served as head coach at FAU for two years before being fired in November during his second season. He is not currently coaching.
Matt Hayes is a senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X @MattHayesCFB.
