Bryan Harsin receives first portion of buyout payment from Auburn

Auburn paid a lump sum of $7.78M on November 30th to the former head coach.

Author:
Lindsay Crosby
Publish date:
Dec 7, 2022 1:28 PM EST

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Auburn Tigers

Auburn fulfilled their first contractual obligation to now former-head coach Bryan Harsin with payment of the first installment of his buyout, approximately $7,792,138.44, last Wednesday, according to Auburn University business & finance records.

Under the contract signed by Harsin and former athletic director Allen Greene on December 23, 2020, Harsin was due 70% of the remaining balance of the contract upon his termination by the university without "cause", with the first installment of 50% of the balance owed due within 30 days. The remaining 50% is distributed in four annual installments, beginning July 15th, 2023.

To qualify for the buyout monies, per the contract, Harsin was required to execute a non-revocable general release of all contract and employment-related claims that he either currently may have or potentially could present in the future against Auburn University and related entities.

Harsin's contract specified that he has no mitigation requirements, while Auburn holds no offsets. To explain, a "duty to mitigate" is present in most assistant coach contracts, requiring them to pursue a similar job to what they previously had and allowing their new salary to "offset", or reduce, the amount that is owed to them in their buyouts.

For example, defensive coordinator Derek Mason resigned from Auburn after the 2021 season for the same position at Oklahoma State, lowering his salary from $1.5M with the Tigers to $1.1M with the Cowboys. If he had been fired by Auburn with mitigation and offset clauses in his contract, the buyout money owed would reduce to the difference between the new and old salaries, $400,000.

The payout of the buyout money wasn't surprising, but as stories have emerged about Harsin's time at Auburn, fan sentiment towards a "for cause" firing has grown. As explained in the contract, a "for cause" firing requires specific violations of certain clauses of the contract pertaining to the specific duties expected or "conduct of a personal or criminal nature that casts Coach or the University in a negative light or otherwise jeopardizes or negatively affects student-welfare, as determined by the University."

For cause firings in college athletics are rare, and for a reason: They're almost always heavily litigated. The most recent firing "for cause" that does not involve criminal charges is the termination of Washington State head football coach Nick Rolovich in October of 2021. He was fired "for cause" for failure to comply with the state of Washington's COVID-19 vaccination requirement for state employees - a violation of contract section 1.2.1 that requires him to comply with all University and state personnel policies. The subsequent lawsuit, filed by Rolovich, requests $25M in damages and is currently in pre-trial discovery.

To put it simply: Being bad at your job is not grounds to fire someone "for cause".