Article on "Dead Money"payed to fired/former coaches

[CoffeeTiger 5,192]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32552130/schools-spent-5336-million-dead-money

I'll quote the parts about Leath/Auburn

Steven Leath, the president of Auburn University from 2017 to 2019, negotiated giving then-football coach Gus Malzahn a seven-year, $49 million contract extension in December 2017. Malzahn was fired in 2020, and Auburn committed to buy out the remainder of his contract for more than $21 million. At the time, it set a record for the largest buyout paid by a school.

"You're in a public relations disadvantage," said Leath, who is now executive director of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports. "No matter where you end up on a contract, there will be some people who think the coach should be gone and shouldn't be renegotiated at all. And there will be some people who think you didn't pay him enough because he walks on water. It's hard to win the public relations battle no matter where you come down."

Auburn ($31.2 million) and Nebraska ($25.8 million) led the way in dead money payments, followed by Texas ($21.5 million), Ole Miss ($20.4 million) and Kansas ($20 million).

...

Leath said he worked directly with Malzahn's agent, Jimmy Sexton, in part because the school was in between athletic directors at the time of his negotiated extension. Leath said the use of agents in coaching contract negotiations "is huge." Pretty much gone are the days of a coach coming in to discuss an employment contract in the same way a vice president of student affairs or a chief of police would.

"It's changed to this dynamic where the agent would prefer you don't even talk to your own employee," Leath said. "And sometimes you have to put your foot down and say, 'Listen, this person works for me. I don't have to go through you.' It's a very difficult, cumbersome process. It's easy for it to get somewhat adversarial. It changes the team spirit of working together for the common goal of advancing the program to much more of an unfun business negotiation."

The Tigers had recently upset rivals Georgia and Alabama, who were both ranked No. 1 at the time, to reach the 2017 SEC title game. Arkansas had also expressed interest in hiring Malzahn.

With Malzahn's contract extension, Leath said the buyout provision was "unpalatable from our side, but necessary because of the playing field everybody was in at the time. So you take a risk that he'll perform well for two or three or four years and the buyout thing will go away. That's what you're hoping for."

Leath said he did push back on Malzahn's buyout provision and got it reduced from having to pay 100% of the remaining salary to paying 75% of what was left on the deal.

"We made it more favorable for the university," Leath said. "They were still tremendous terms for Gus, don't get me wrong. But they were certainly better for the university than when we started out."

Leath said he got there by adopting the attitude of, "Just, c'mon, let's be reasonable here," and having some individual meetings with Malzahn. "It would have been far better if no agents were involved and you could just sit down and say, 'What's best for the university? What's best for you? What's best for the program long-term?'"

In June 2019, Leath and Auburn mutually parted ways as well. His separation agreement called for him to receive $4.5 million over three years.

[gravejd 3,272]

We had to pay Leath 14M dollars to go away??? Such BS

[The Colonel 34]

let's get shirts - Got 31.2?  

make it the basis of a fund-raising campaign

[marsbold 67]

10 minutes ago, gravejd said:

We had to pay Leath 14M dollars to go away??? Such BS

 

1 hour ago, CoffeeTiger said:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32552130/schools-spent-5336-million-dead-money

In June 2019, Leath and Auburn mutually parted ways as well. His separation agreement called for him to receive $4.5 million over three years.

I read the last sentence as $4.5 total & assumed $1.5 per year. Don't have any clue other than this article though as I paid no attention to Leath's departure/buyout.

[casatiger 514]

1 hour ago, CoffeeTiger said:

executive director of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports

There's a reason this is your new title Steven!

[AUTigerTime 186]

1 hour ago, CoffeeTiger said:

executive director of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports

 

29 minutes ago, casatiger said:

There's a reason this is your new title Steven!

 

One thing is for certain, an English major did not come up with that title.

 

[casatiger 514]

11 minutes ago, AUTigerTime said:

 

 

One thing is for certain, an English major did not come up with that title.

 

I hope he shoots better than he negotiates.  

[oracle79 3,569]

1 hour ago, gravejd said:

We had to pay Leath 14M dollars to go away??? Such BS

Should have had him fall upstairs.

Edited November 5, 2021 by oracle79
In before the title change!

[TigerHorn 1,354]

Don't worry, Texas will blow by AU within a couple of years. ATM won't be far behind, if indeed they don't pass us too. 

[Hank2020 3,219]

See very little value if any to this article. We had to make a change sooner rather than later. First thing you have to when your in a hole is stop digging. That was moving on from Malzahn.

[aubaseball 2,661]

41 minutes ago, TigerHorn said:

Don't worry, Texas will blow by AU within a couple of years. ATM won't be far behind, if indeed they don't pass us too. 

aTm has a no buy out clause.   

[80Tiger 904]

7 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

aTm has a no buy out clause.   

I thought it was the other way around. Jimbo has no buyout if he leaves but aTm does if they let him go. Not sure but that is what I thought

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,768]

Wonder if this includes Corn

[80Tiger 904]

9 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

aTm has a no buy out clause.   

[CoffeeTiger 5,192]

Just now, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Wonder if this includes Corn

No, I don't think this article or numbers covers any firings that's happened in 2021. 

[CoffeeTiger 5,192]

47 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

See very little value if any to this article. We had to make a change sooner rather than later. First thing you have to when your in a hole is stop digging. That was moving on from Malzahn.

I don't think it was wrong to fire Malzahn, and I don't think this article is criticizing the firing as much as it is highlighting the growing trend of high buyouts across the sport. 

I thought the quotes from Leath about the negotiating process were interesting 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

10 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

aTm has a no buy out clause.   

No.  If ATM were to fire Jimbo without cause it would owe him a massive buyout.  Jimbo could leave and not have to pay ATM any money. 
 

https://www.outkick.com/jimbo-fishers-texas-am-extension-includes-largest-buyout-in-history/

[AU9377 5,081]

22 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

I thought it was the other way around. Jimbo has no buyout if he leaves but aTm does if they let him go. Not sure but that is what I thought

You are correct.  Jimbo receives the balance of his contract if he is fired without cause.  They are happy with Jimbo overall at Tamu.

[AU9377 5,081]

Leath didn't throw any shade at Auburn.  I wouldn't be surprised if his separation agreement included a provision requiring him not to portray the university in a negative light for a certain number of years after the agreement was executed. 

What Schlabach doesn't explore is why Leath believed that he had no choice other than to come close to matching the Arkansas offer. Arkansas was willing to pay the same (and likely more) and fully guarantee the contract.  A combination of Leath's pride and inexperience made him an easy target for the best sports agent in the country in Jimmy Sexton.  Leath could have thanked Gus for all his hard work at Auburn and wished him well at Arkansas.  That was an option, but not something that Leath readily admits.  Gus was smart enough to have a great agent.  Leath was not smart enough to get help when he clearly needed it.

[Tiger 8,833]

Should've just said "I got my ass handed to me during negotiations" and this entire article would've fit in a tweet

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,768]

53 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

No, I don't think this article or numbers covers any firings that's happened in 2021. 

were running up the score then!  

[Gowebb11 9,401]

Great irony here. The same Universities awarding degrees in Finance to the next generation have spent half a Billion $ paying people not to work. 

[AUloggerhead 2,257]

Quote

 

... Leath said he did push back on Malzahn's buyout provision and got it reduced from having to pay 100% of the remaining salary to paying 75% of what was left on the deal.

"We made it more favorable for the university," Leath said. "They were still tremendous terms for Gus, don't get me wrong. But they were certainly better for the university than when we started out."  ...

 

Ummm, no.  That's kind of like saying I got robbed but I made sure the thief didn't take 100% of everything I owned -- I was smart enough to beg to keep 25%.  

One thing is for certain:  Leath is on both Gus's & Sexton's Christmas card list.  

[AU9377 5,081]

One thing coaches know about Auburn... we will pay you to keep your mouth shut, smile and move on if things don't work out.

[aubaseball 2,661]

Someone with a good search engine should do some digging to see how much money Auburn has  paid football coaches not to coach  since Pat Dye left.   

Edited November 6, 2021 by aubaseball