Penn State Coach Gets $45M Buyout

Roughly five months after announcing the closure of seven campuses for financial reasons, Pennsylvania State University is set to pay at least $45 million to part ways with former head football coach James Franklin, who was fired over the weekend, The Athletic reported.

Estimates of the buyout have ranged from $45 million to as high as $49 million, which is believed to be one of the highest in college football history. Franklin’s buyout is reportedly second only to a $76.8 million exit package for Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M University in 2023. (One analyst projects buyouts across college football will surpass $200 million this season.)

Franklin, who led the Nittany Lions since he was hired in 2014 and compiled a record of 104 wins and 45 losses, was fired after a string of three straight defeats—the last two to unranked teams. Penn State started the season at No. 2 in the Associated Press top 25 and is now unranked. Franklin was tied for the second most wins in program history when he was fired.

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft told media in a Monday press conference that the athletic department would cover Franklin’s multimillion-dollar exit package, but he did not specify whether that would be funded by donations from football boosters, as some observers have speculated.