11/17/25
October 26, 2025
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
These programs have the opportunity to do the funniest thing possible: lure Belichick away from UNC to a "real football school". Or LSU hire James Franklin and Penn State hire Brian Kelly.
posted by NoMich at 10:05 AM on October 27, 2025
I thought Penn State maybe should hire Kelly. He's a better fit there than in LA.
A funny thing would be PSU paying Kelly short money with him being funded by the LSU buyout.
Then someone else would pay Franklin short money due to the PSU buyout.
It could all end up being a relative wash.
I don't think LSU would hire Franklin though. The Tigers being beaten by Franklin's former Vanderbilt squad would be intolerable, and would be a real possibility if Vandy keeps their current coach.
posted by beaverboard at 01:57 PM on October 27, 2025
I'm sure there's got to be a "actively looking for a new coaching job and when you do get a new coaching job, our payments to you cease" clause in these contracts?
posted by NoMich at 03:04 PM on October 27, 2025
I'm sure there's got to be a "actively looking for a new coaching job and when you do get a new coaching job, our payments to you cease" clause in these contracts?
Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll...
From ESPN
$168M in buyouts owed to fired FBS head football coaches
posted by tommybiden at 12:15 PM on October 28, 2025
It's not like that kind of money is needed elsewhere like feeding families on SNAP that are about to lose that program because the majority party of this country claims that the minority party are the ones that actually control government. (Murc's Law proven yet again! [The Democratic Party is the only one with agency in the government so everything is their fault.]) /sigh Just gonna sit over here and listen to this Wednesday song for the rest of the day.
posted by NoMich at 03:43 PM on October 28, 2025
These two paragraphs from tommybiden's link are delicious that ends with an amazing chef's kiss:
Buyout totals are subject to change in certain circumstances; for example, if Kelly or Franklin land new jobs, the schools that fired them owe them less money. Napier's contract with Florida, on the other hand, did not include offset language, and half of his buyout is owed to him within 30 days of his firing.
Kelly's buyout is the second largest in college football history, behind Texas A&M's record $76 million buyout of Jimbo Fisher in 2023. Both coaches were hired by current LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, who ran the Texas A&M athletic department from 2016 to 2019.
(Text in bold by me)
posted by NoMich at 03:53 PM on October 28, 2025
That Wednesday album is really fun, NoMich. It falls during a very busy time workwise, but I'm hoping to make their StL show this Spring.
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:53 PM on October 28, 2025
Up until lately, my album of the year was Turnstile's Never Enough, but Wednesday's Bleeds has surpassed it.
posted by NoMich at 05:39 PM on October 28, 2025
Speaking of Turnstile and recent releases, give the Citric Dummies' "Split With Turnstile" a listen next time you feel like putting your brain in a Punk n' Roll blender for twenty minutes.
Turnstile themselves are in no way involved (as far as I can tell), but I've been listening to it at least once a day since it came out. It's great.
posted by Ufez Jones at 03:45 PM on October 29, 2025
This morning I was thinking about the sudden silence about the Mike Gundy, James Franklin and Billy Napier buyouts and figured maybe it was because folks were murmuring about the possibility of a Brian Kelly buyout.
Murmur no more - LSU just fired him.
I think about the calls and messages that might go back and forth on a Saturday night like last night after a back breaking bad loss. Calls between people with the money behind the scenes.
"Do we have enough on hand to be able to fire the guy? If not, can we get it pledged in? Let's call his agent in the morning and work out a deal".
The amount of money LSU will need to spend to buy out Kelly and his staff and hire a new coach and staff isn't as much as the GDP of the country with the smallest economy in the world.
But it's close.