Total cost of the transition

Priceless.

It was free with 2 Cokes once the marketing was activated

I'm just guessing here, but I'll swing at the pitch.

The first part of the equation needs to be the additional revenue that Harbaugh's presence will generate in increased attendance in 2015.  Had Harbaugh not come, and had we continued on with Hoke, I'd venture a guess that we would have been down, on average, about 20K seats per game from where we were in 2013 and possibly more.

Assuming we are again full, attendance-wise, the transition will show a substantial profit in the first year.  Most contracts have offsets that deduct the amount a coach is paid from a new employer from what Michigan owes from contracts still in force.  Nuss won't cost much, Borges has already been paid for, if I remember correctly, Mattison is being retained, so the big dollars will go for Hoke and Brandon, although no one knows where Brandon will land.  Most of the rest of the staff have obtained employment.

Assuming that the average ticket plus seat license costs 100/game, which is absurdly low, but includes seats for which there is no seat license, 10,000 more in attendance timse seven games equals 7 million in revenue.  Double that, it is 14 million, and that doesn't count stadium sales for food, gear, etc, which would substantially increase profits.  Even with Harbaugh's additional salary, and I have no clue what he is paying his assistants, I cannot fathom that the athletic department doesn't come out substanially ahead with JH at the helm.  In 2015, with all the dead money having been paid (or most of it), the bottom line is even better.

I think whatever the cost is, we underpaid. 

Transitioning to the metric system.

7 years, countless losses, snapped streaks and a civil war in the fan base for good measure.  

There wasnt a buyout for Harbaugh to leave the 49ers. They mutually agreed to part ways. Nobody was fired and he didn't breach contract by leaving. As for the assistants, as far as I know, the only coaches on the staff that receive multi-year contracts are the OC/DC at Michigan. Considering Mattison was retained, there is no buyout, and with Nussmeier leaving for Florida, he is not owed any money (assuming, his contract works the way most contracts do) So it seems like the buyout for Brandon and Hoke are the only losses, in addition to any increases in salary of the replacements compared to their counterparts (Wheatley's salary compared to Fred Jackson's). But like many of the posters have already said, well worth it. I may be mistaken, but at most schools the positions coaches only receive year-to-year deals. I would assume Michigan does the same thing. In which case, they don't owe buyouts to any assistants for not retaining them.