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All over college football, well-intentioned head coaches do their absolute best to build a program. They spend hundreds and thousands of hours trying to recruit, develop and execute at the highest levels.
Sometimes, their vision just doesn't work out. Losses pile up, top players hit the transfer portal, recruits look elsewhere and a breakup is inevitable.
Look, losing your job is a serious, unfortunate thing. Money doesn't cure all. But as revenue has exploded in college football, so have paychecks—and buyouts—for coaches, especially at power-conference schools.
Nobody wants to get fired. A hefty buyout may ease the pain, though.
Here's a look at the 10 biggest coaching buyouts in the history of college football.
Note: Penn State owed James Franklin $49 million upon his dismissal, but a settlement reduced the number to $9 million.
10. Ed Orgeron, LSU
1 of 10
Buyout: $16.9 million
The first buyout is a perfect encapsulation of the pressure on head coaches.
During the 2019 season, Ed Orgeron celebrated a national championship with an LSU team considered one of the absolute best in the sport's history. Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow led a star-filled offense to a 15-0 record.
Orgeron lasted just two more years in Baton Rouge. LSU tumbled to 5-5 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and went 6-6 in 2021, leading to his dismissal.
To his credit, "Coach O" has moved on—and provided a gem of a story.
"Coach," he recounted being told, "You've got $17.1 million on your contract; we're going to give it to you." To which Orgeron replied, "What time do you want me to leave, and what door do you want me out of, brother?"
9. Willie Taggart, Florida State
2 of 10
Buyout: $18 million
On the heels of losing Jimbo Fisher to Texas A&M—more on that later—Florida State pivoted to Willie Taggart.
He didn't even last two years.
Fisher left a mediocre roster that Taggart and his staff struggled to elevate. The offense, in particular, was a total mess in his brief tenure.
Not only did the 2018 team finish 5-7, but that season marked the end of FSU's 36-year bowl streak. After a 4-5 start to the 2019 campaign, the school parted ways with Taggart for roughly $18 million.
8. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame
3 of 10
Buyout: $19 million
Early on, Notre Dame believed.
Charlie Weis arrived in 2005, enjoyed a 5-2 start and signed what might be the fastest contract extension ever. Right away, the school committed itself to the longtime NFL assistant coach for 10 years.
Until things began to unravel, that is. Notre Dame registered 9-3 and 10-3 records in his first two seasons, then plummeted to 3-9 in 2007.
Although the Jimmy Clausen-led Fighting Irish climbed back to 7-6 the next year, a second-half collapse in 2009 led to a 6-6 record and Weis' departure.
7. Billy Napier, Florida
4 of 10
Buyout: $21.2 million
Given what he'd accomplished at Louisiana, Billy Napier was a perfectly logical target for a struggling Florida program. He'd ripped off a 40-12 record at ULL, including a 33-5 stretch during his last three seasons.
However, Napier just never clicked in Gainesville.
Florida stumbled to a 6-7 mark in 2022, and patience evaporated with a 5-7 record in 2023. Trudging to a 4-5 record in 2024 set off alarms that a four-game win streak to close the campaign only quieted—not silenced.
Expectations rose during the 2025 offseason, but a stunning upset at the hands of South Florida in Week 2 and more losses in rivalry games sealed his fate.
Napier mustered a 22-23 record in his time at UF.
6. Gus Malzahn, Auburn
5 of 10
Buyout: $21.5 million
Gus Malzahn made history for the wrong reason.
That's the unfortunate legacy of a coach who nearly won a national title in his first season at Auburn. Malzahn had taken a 3-9 team to the brink of a championship during the 2013 campaign.
From there, the Tigers were a frustratingly reliable, good-never-great team. They consistently hit 7-10 wins, but a stagnant offense and a revolving door at quarterback soured the fanbase on Malzahn.
Auburn managed a 6-4 record in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, after which the university fired Malzahn with—at the time—the largest buyout ever.
5. Jonathan Smith, Michigan State
6 of 10
Buyout: $32.5 million
As with so many other examples, Jonathan Smith seemed like a great option for Michigan State. He'd helped Oregon State, his alma mater, climb from 2-10 in his first season to 10-3 and 8-4 records in his last two.
MSU ended up pulling the rip cord in a hurry.
Although he inherited a messy situation, Smith simply had a noncompetitive tenure. Ranked teams routinely smoked the Spartans, who yielded 31-plus points per game to Big Ten foes in both of his seasons.
Smith oversaw a 5-7 team in 2024 and 4-8 squad in 2025, posting a meager 4-14 mark against conference opponents.
4. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
7 of 10
Buyout: $37.7 million
Throughout his 13-year tenure, Mark Stoops made Kentucky into a reputable team. Although the Wildcats never contended at a national level, they usually settled near the middle of the SEC standings and pieced together a program-best eight-year bowl streak under his watch.
Stoops, as a result, enjoyed one of the nation's more secure jobs for a decade. He'd become a beloved coach for squeezing the most out of UK's rosters.
But in 2024, the Cats faded.
Kentucky ended 4-8, the worst record since Stoops' debut in 2013. They followed with a 5-7 mark, and both seasons were littered with blowout losses.
Stoops left Lexington with a program-high 82 career wins.
3. Mike Norvell, Florida State
8 of 10
Buyout: $50.3 million
In the college football realm, there are few "what-if" stories more devastating than Mike Norvell's tenure at Florida State from 2023 onward.
The Seminoles soared to a 13-0 record in 2023, winning an ACC title despite losing quarterback Jordan Travis to a gruesome injury. However, the College Football Playoff selection committee used his absence as a reason not to include FSU, delivering the worst snub in the history of the championship tournament.
One year later, the Seminoles slumped to an abysmal 2-10.
Norvell toiled in his effort to drag FSU forward, ultimately relying too heavily on transfers and struggling to find the correct solution at QB post-Travis. The spectacular upset of Alabama and 3-0 mark to begin 2025 turned into a collapse as the 'Noles finished 5-7. The final straw arrived as FSU lumbered to 3-5 in 2026.
During his six-plus seasons, Florida State managed a 41-39 record as part of a wildly frustrating roller coaster.
2. Brian Kelly, LSU
9 of 10
Buyout: $54 million
From the literal moment Brian Kelly showed up, it was awkward.
He memorably donned a fake accent at his introduction, not exactly ingratiating himself to LSU faithful. That moment didn't make or break what followed, but it exemplified Kelly's challenge fitting in with the culture of the program.
During his three-plus seasons in Baton Rouge, Kelly—who tallied a 34-14 record—won plenty of games.
But he didn't win the right ones.
The late upset at Texas A&M in 2022 cost the Tigers a shot at the CFP, and they fell to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, too. LSU lost to three of its four Top 25 opponents in 2023, 2024 and 2025 prior to his dismissal.
Kelly's shaky culture fit, constant coordinator churn and unmet expectations (with very expensive rosters) all contributed to his downfall.
1. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
10 of 10
Buyout: $76.8 million
Jimbo Fisher assembled a great run at Florida State, compiling an 83-23 record with a national championship and three ACC titles. His reign in Tallahassee ended on a sour note, but it was overwhelmingly a success.
The same cannot be said of Fisher's time leading Texas A&M.
After landing a fully guaranteed $75 million offer, he later signed an extension through the 2031 season. The deal included no offset language.
That moment arrived in 2023 after several years of disappointment. Star-filled recruiting classes never panned out as hoped, the A&M offense steadily fell after its peak in 2020 and the Aggies straight-up couldn't win on the road.
Texas A&M showed him the door, but Fisher left College Station with the richest, most preposterous buyout in college football history.
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