James Franklin was fired from his head football coach position at Penn State over the weekend, a move that many fans expected after watching Franklin amass a 4-21 record against top ten teams during his 12 year tenure. Franklin’s record was even more dismal against top five teams, holding a career 1-15 record. Clearly there was reason for Penn State to examine a coaching change, but what is most troubling is the $50 million dollars remaining on his contract that he is still owed. As was the case with Jimbo Fisher in 2023 when he was bought out by Texas A&M for a staggering $77.5 million, Penn State has decided that James Franklin was a sunk cost and worth firing. Coaches are hired and fired all the time, but should there be greater oversight to college administrators who sign off on these ludicrous contracts that become even more unconscionable when the school is still on the hook for tens of millions of dollars? Where is the accountability?
Colleges, coaches, and sunk costs
College football is estimated to be a $12 billion dollar industry today, and because of this nearly all major colleges pay their coaches tens of millions of dollars. That alone is controversial, especially when you take into account these are colleges who should be prioritizing academics, not football (but we’ll save that for another day). Even knowing that college football brings in millions of dollars each year, it still feels odd seeing a college coach make tens of millions of dollars to coach football, but it really, really feels off witnessing a fired coach collect $50+ million dollars as in the cases of Fisher and Franklin.
For perspective, it would take 500 years for a college professor earning $100,000 per year to accumulate $50 million — and that’s just the money still owed to Franklin, not what he has amassed thus far as coach of PSU. Or, a university could hire 500 professors instead of paying their football coach $50 million, another example of money well spent. If the university already has enough faculty, every academic department within the university would gladly accept $50 million in a research grant rather than see it go to a fired football coach. As you can see, that kind of money can go a long way, and could have been directed in many ways that are more congruent to the academic mission than football.
Penn State viewed James Franklin, after going 3-3 this season, as a sunk cost. A sunk cost is a is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered, and the debt PSU owed Franklin — regardless of his success, or lack thereof — was money lost. As was already established, $50 million is a lot of money that could have been spent in a lot of academic ways that support the academic mission of the university. Who initially signed Franklin to the contract, providing the balloon payment should he be fired? Do administrators today take any responsibility, or face any real consequences, when they waste money like this? Or with college football being a $12 billion dollar industry, does anybody even care?
Putting it all together, Penn State signed Franklin in 2021 for $85 million (plus all kinds of additional financial perks and incentives). Franklin’s record, however, was abysmal against teams that mattered, so the university fired him and gave him a $50 million parting gift. Does any of that make sense to you? How does a coach that bad at his job walk away with that kind of money?
Final thoughts
While the first defense of the ludicrous PSU buyout to James Franklin is likely “It’s the cost of doing business,” perhaps this should serve as a wake-up call that college administrators need to be accountable for the contracts they structure for coaches. While you may be a fan of James Franklin, it’s clear that he has not come close to meeting the standards and expectations Penn State holds for its football program. Seems to me that a coach with a 4-21 record against top ten teams may not have ever been worth that kind of contract, and that someone should be held to account for both the signing, and lucrative buyout, James Franklin will now enjoy.
drstankovich.com
