It is often said within the sports world that there isn’t a better job anywhere in America than “fired head coach.” If you can land a decent gig, you can be so bad at that job that the athletic department that hired you will pay you to not work for them. Buyouts in college athletics have exploded in recent years, and football coaches in particular have reaped the benefit.
That is especially true at Texas A&M, where former head football coach Jimbo Fisher made a pretty penny when he was fired. Fisher reportedly received $19.2 million within 60 days of his dismissal at A&M, and he was put on a schedule that would garner $7.2 million annually through 2031.
Fisher made more money from Texas A&M last season to not coach the Aggies than all but 22 FBS head coaches made to coach their respective programs, according to publicly available data from USA Today.
A report this week from AL.com put that situation in a different context. Alabama reporter Matt Stahl obtained financial reports from the 15 public SEC universities via open records requests. (As a private institution, Vanderbilt isn’t subject to open records requests.) Stahl found that Texas A&M was the only school in the SEC that exceeded $11 million in total severance spending throughout the athletic department for the previous fiscal year.
Only 3 other SEC schools — Auburn ($10.8 million), Texas ($7.2 million), and Mississippi State (roughly $5 million) — spent more than $5 million in severance during FY24, according to Stahl’s reporting.
Mother of god t.co/ZKxJV1qQxU pic.twitter.com/V2e0nej2UI
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) May 15, 2025In terms of football-only severance spending, A&M spent more than every other SEC school combined. Three SEC schools — Mizzou, South Carolina, and Tennessee — reported $0 spent on severance during FY24. Alabama reported less than $7,000. Georgia and LSU each reported less than $200,000. Only 4 schools spent more than $2 million in football, with Auburn the only other school north of $4 million.
To replace Fisher, A&M hired Mike Elko from Duke. According to USA Today’s database, Elko made $7 million last season. That was less than 10 other SEC head coaches.
While Year 1 featured 5 losses and a season-opening defeat at home, A&M also managed just its third winning record in SEC play in the last 12 seasons. The Aggies paid a $10 million buyout to fire Kevin Sumlin and then made that buyout look like chump change to move off of Fisher. The Aggies are hopeful Elko can push them toward College Football Playoff contention, though they might not have the financial means to do anything if he can’t.
Somewhere, Fisher has his feet up.
Texas A&M severance spending looks hilarious compared to rest of SEC Saturday Down South.
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