Originally Posted by
Johnson85
This is not exactly right. There is almost certainly a contract term that specifies what the buyout is. There may be negotiations as a matter of practice, but what those negotiations entail is going to be heavily dictated by what the contract says. If the contract says Joe Mo gets the full remaining contract less new earnings, then the negotiation will be how much he gets how quickly, and how much it is reduced or not for new earnings. So if the article is correct and he is guaranteed the remaining contract, we might negotiation to pay half immediately and not take into account any future earnings. Then he'd get money now rather than over several years, he wouldn't be "penalized" for a new job, and we probably get a good discount b/c nobody is going to pay him $1.5 to be a coordinator or head coach after this performance, so we're probably saving money over what we otherwise would have paid. But if I were JoMO, it would take more than half immediately. MSU is not a credit risk and he's probably not about to make big bucks in his next job, so there's not much incentive for him to take a haircut in exchange for an immediate payment. Maybe if it is customary and his agent tells him it will hurt him in his next negotiation if he holds out for all of it, but based on his performance, Joe Mo may think this is his last big paycheck and want to cash all of it.
This is the crux. If we knew we had a successful coach waiting in the wings, then stroking a $9M check tomorrow would be a bargain. The challenge is that if you make two bad hires in a row, it makes it even harder for donors to stomach the buyout the second time, knowing that a third time might be around the corner. That is the big thing in JoMo's favor for coming back next year.
If Cohen extended JoMo after next year and kept his buyout at the full value of the contract, he needs to be fired. That is absolutely shitty negotiating. AFter last year's performance, you offer to extend him but you keep the buyout the same. Maybe you sweeten by half a million or even a million if you are worried it's going to sour the relationship to do nothing; you don't want to have him turn it around but then be hell bent on getting out of town b/c of the prior negotiations. But if JoMO turns down an offer like that, you just bite the bullet and don't extend. If a head coach is willing to voluntarily handicap himself in recruiting like that, then you know the answer is you have hired the wrong guy and you need to keep it as cheap as possible to fire him.