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Which football teams in the SEC incurred the highest severance costs in FY 2023?………………………..
It costs money to fire coaches. Most organizations, though, don’t charge as much as Auburn did when Bryan Harsin was fired by the Tigers in the 2022 season—before he had even served two years in his position.
According to NCAA revenues and spending statistics from all 15 current and future SEC institutions that AL.com was able to get, Auburn led the pack in athletics department severance costs by a wide margin. Vanderbilt was a private school, hence its statistics were not disclosed.
In FY 2023, which ran from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, the Tigers spent $19.9 million in severance. That was the highest in the league, significantly exceeding Texas’s $5.4 million finish in second place.
Third place went to LSU with $5 million invested. Alabama came in at number twelve out of the fifteen schools, way down the list.
It cost the Crimson Tide $998,286. With $246,504 spent on severance, Florida spent the least of any university. UA placed one spot ahead of them.
In the fiscal year, two universities—Tennessee and South Carolina—paid no severance.
It was more of the same in football. Auburn’s total comes from just one sport, accounting for $18.6 million.
It’s improbable that the Tigers will still be atop the questionable chart when the FY 2024 statistics are released. Jimbo Fisher was dismissed by Texas A&M, and the school will have to pay him nearly $76 million in total.
Auburn will continue to score well because it will continue to pay Gus Malzahn, whom it fired in 2021, in addition to Harsin. The Aggies paid less than $1 million in severance for the fiscal year 2023, but they will probably outperform the field the next year when the Fisher data are recorded.
Texas ranked second in FY 2023 with $5.4 million in football severance compensation. Third place went to Ole Miss with $2.8 million, followed by Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi State with over $1 million each.