Hoke has a $2M Buyout after the season
He has made $11.4M to date (which includes his 2014 salary). If he is fired after the season, Michigan would have to pay him a $2M buyout. I assume if they fired him right now they would be on the hook for the rest of his 2014 salary of $2.3M. If they pulled the trigger right now, he would be owed what about $3.5M?
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/09/numbers_having_invest…
Charlie Weis got fired this weekend. He is still getting paid from ND to not coach there, which will total $20M when all said and done. Kansas will pay him $7 not not coach there after this weekend.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
Pocket change
September 29th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^
Take the $2 million
Resign
Sell his house and move out of state.
Get his finances in order to care for a long retirement.
Fade off into the sunset, never to be heard of again.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
This is an Athletic Department that is dumping millions of dollars into an indoor rowing practice facility.
They can come up with $2 million to do needed damage control for the head coach of the primary program that attracts said money for said non-revenue practice facility.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
My glass-hundreth-full perspective on Brandon is that he has set up the conditions in which he needs to be fired for the sake of the financial solvency of the athletic department.
September 29th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
Mr. Ross the move is yours...
September 29th, 2014 at 1:58 PM ^
Someone needs to get on the kickstarter asap. Lets get this guy outta here now.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
Does the decrease in attendance affect the decision making? In my mind after this week he would have been gone Sunday morning. But I imagine that they are missing out on 500K worth of ticket revenue every game and will probably have a hard time getting donors to pony up the difference. So is DB thinking he can't afford to fire Hoke until the buyout drops 1mil.
September 29th, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^
I doubt gate receipts on Saturdays are a major part of the ticket revenues. Demand for next year's season tix is presumably cratering right now, but the financial cost of 60K failing to show next home game is probably just concessions sales drops.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
The buyout drops from 3M to 2M on 1/1. It's only a million dollars in the grand scheme of things, so the decision is not hinging on this fact. The decision is going to be made based upon whether it's the best thing to do for the team. Is it better to wait until the season is over rather than pull the trigger too soon and cause chaos amongst the current players?
September 29th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
I don't think what's best for the team is the driving factor anymore. It's what's best for the school. Having Hoke isn't just bad for the team now. It's bringing a lot of negative attention to the university. The situation isn't all that similar, but I'm reminded of Petrino at Arkansas. He didn't get canned because that would help the team.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
is worth an extra million for a program making obscene amounts of money.
Not to mention there's a possible case for termination with cause which would have no buyout, or at the very least a negotiated lower buyout.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
This is a good example of throwing good money after bad. LOL. Yes, please.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
No, throwing good money after bad is keeping Hoke and giving him more budget for next year to hire another offensive coordinator and trying to fix a lost cause. The good money is what would have been saved on the OC, the bad money is the money already spent on Hoke.
Hoke needs to go, and the sooner he is, the sooner the good money can be spent on someone who might be a suitable leader for the football team. So the buyout is worth it.
September 29th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^
I think you need to re-think your comment.
Any money spent to make Hoke go away is good money.
Any money paid to Hoke that does not result in him going away is more bad money.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
I'll throw in $50.00. Just need 40,000 more to do the same and we can meet our goal...
September 29th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
I'm down for that, so make that 39,999 to go!
September 29th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
I know there were skywriting kickstarter ideas floating around this weekend... But, would it be possible to start one on behalf of paying Hoke's buyout? I'd donate to that.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
I suggested this in the comments to Brian's column this morning (and got downvoted). We could include one for Brandon, too.
September 29th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
The athletic department has plenty of money to pay for the buyout, we don't need to give them any more. Even if we did raise the money, it's not like they listen to a word we say; they do whatever they want.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
Enjoy the $2,000,000.00----I bid you fairwell. Maybe he can use some of that to bid up the prices on the $10 home field seats online for future games right now. Or hire stand ins to come to the stadium to fill seats.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
his a**hole boss has made the athletic department enough money to pay it. and they won't even have to. a donor will step in and pay it.
September 29th, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
This is what happens when we sell our souls....
Martin takes the Adidas contract over Nike, DUE TO MONEY... despite Nike always being great for us..... so that incremental financial gain, given to RR in form of what, WVa buyout, RR salary after fired, etc...
Now all the nonsense Brandon is doing, shaking down the M faithful.. is gonna go, what, to his GOLDEN PARACHUTE along with having to pay Hoke next year
W
T
F
W
T
F
September 29th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
This is what happens when we sell our souls....
Martin takes the Adidas contract over Nike, DUE TO MONEY... despite Nike always being great for us..... so that incremental financial gain, given to RR in form of what, WVa buyout, RR salary after fired, etc...
Now all the nonsense Brandon is doing, shaking down the M faithful, all this "surplus"..... is gonna go, what, to his GOLDEN PARACHUTE along with having to pay Hoke next year
W
T
F
W
T
F
September 29th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
This is what happens when we sell our souls....
Martin takes the Adidas contract over Nike, DUE TO MONEY... despite Nike always being great for us..... so that incremental financial gain, given to RR in form of what, WVa buyout, RR salary after fired, etc...
Now all the nonsense Brandon is doing, shaking down the M faithful, all this "surplus"..... is gonna go, what, to his GOLDEN PARACHUTE along with having to pay Hoke next year
W
T
F
W
T
F
September 29th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
I've seen these numbers before, but I haven't seen anything on DB's contract. Does anyone know anything?
September 29th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
Brandon's current pay is outlined in his extension, the PDF of which is here - LINK
It outlines several differnet scenarios under which Brandon would be somehow compensated depending on the date and circumstances of termination, should he be terminated. Under "By University, Without Cause", for example, if it were to be before July 1st, 2016, it looks like he gets his remaining base salary per the contract plus whatever deferred compensation is remaining in the term.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 29th, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
at some vendors in the stadium
September 29th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
Brandon deserves to be fired at
September 29th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
It's $3 mil if he is fired before Jan 1. and $2 mil if he is fired after. Obviously the earlier he is fired the better (for coaching search, recruiting, etc.). And besides what are the odds the AD would sacrifice the future of the program to save $1 mil?
...Shit.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
I don't think it will be for long. I expect his bosses are going to step in very soon.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
That is probably true that he might be subject to a dismissal with cause. The issue is that dismissal with cause is almost never used unless the violation is so egregious that it is unquestionably with cause.
Most employers want to have these issues taken care of quietly without a potentially ugly and/or expensive lawsuit. So the employee is typically terminated without cause and signs a non-disclosure/non-defamation agreement with the employer. And then receives the buyout amount.
Remember the amount of flack Michigan took with the RR buyout? They don't want that to happen again. They want the transition to be as smooth as possible. A pissed of Hoke might call all of the recruits and poison the water. He might alientate the roster. There is a lot of bad that can be done. Paying the buyout helps minimize that risk.
September 29th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
Not to mention the next coach that we want. People pay attention to treatment on the way out the door.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
You gotta be more clear OP
The season ends on 11/29.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
I said this in a thread that got deleted. This is drop in the athletic department bucket. Dave Brandon himself knows this because he's turned it into a money-making business. Money should not be a factor in the firing.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 11:49 AM ^
Were we worried about Texas snatching him up?
September 29th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
The university is paying $400,000 to move a stinking tree for the business school expansion, with only an 80% chance of said tree's survival.
Hoke's fate is not hinging upon the buyout clause of his contract.
September 29th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
The NBA's Larry Brown of NCAA Football. Will he hit $40 million as Larry did?
September 29th, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
Pay the man, and get him out. The cost of keeping him here goes way beyond $2 million. It goes beyond anything monetary. You're talking about a guy who's very presence damages our program's brand and perception. That $2 million is nothing compared to the damage of retaining Hoke will cause.
September 29th, 2014 at 12:06 PM ^
I'm willing to bet we can find 3 million people to give $1 each to fund this.
September 29th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
September 29th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
Do it UM, just do it. The sooner, the better for all parties involved. Mattison and Nuss can probably get this team through the season and can they be any worse? It's time for Michigan to get out of it's own way and move full steam forward instead of always looking into the past.