With the payday of Steele, I wonder what the total wasted money is. I do know Money spent on head coach buyouts just under the past three decades for has been astronomical! To go back to '92 and originating with Majors buyout through the buyout of Jones is incredible.
First, starting with Dooley. That fiasco costed 7.5 million but only 5 million went to him. The rest to assistants. This is less than the 6 million Fulmer was paid. The biggest discrepancy is that Dooley was only here for three years and contributed almost nothing whereas Fulmer spent 16 years and won trophies and games.
http://archive.knoxnews.com/sports/...imated-75-million-ep-358772569-356094291.html
Next is the Fulmer buyout.
Fulmer to step aside as Tennessee coach
As we all know this was a 6 million dollar buyout. This was the reward for 16 years, two SEC titles, four SEC games and one NC. Now, this is on top of the salary he was already paid to deliver. The note on this is that it is a large increase from the previous coaches (Majors) buyout. Remember, this is inflation over a 16 year period, however. Cost of just doing business in major college football.
Next up is Majors' buyout. It was common knowledge at the time that his buyout was $600,000. At the time, that was considered a large amount of money, but far less than the millions dooled out (pun intended) to Fulmer and later coaches. As the article below states, Johnny wasn't legally owed that much but that amount was negotiated. It also states that the total amount was just over $500,000 not the $600,000 that was supposedly common knowledge but I rounded it up any way.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/s...ball-majors-may-be-out-but-he-s-not-down.html
Next is the $8,260,000 buyout of Butch. Of course that was mitigated by the $35K per year Bama gave him.
Former Tennessee football coach Butch Jones hired by Arkansas State
Actually, something like $7,500,000 or so more than the rounded up version of Majors buyout, which was 25 years Earlier. Still, that is alot of money! It comes to a staggering increase over Fulmers first buyout a little more than a decade ago. Just to state how times have changed.
Before this deal with Pruitt, we had paid somewhere just under $20,225,000 in just coaching buyouts over the past 25 or so years. This does not include Fulmers second buyout or his salary nor does it include the (at least four) coaches buyouts from Pruitt tenure. These figures also do not include the salaries of head coaches or assistants nor the buyouts of all of the assistant coaches throught the years who were not retained by new coaching staffs, just the head coaces buyouts.
That is a lot of money to have shelled out for nothing to show for it. I wonder what the total amount would be if assistant coaching buyouts were added up and included. Then the actual salaries before the termination.
