Indiana football coach Tom Allen is out. How much is his buyout?
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football fired coach Tom Allen on Sunday.
The move will cost the university upwards of $20 million, not including possible mitigation costs down the line.
Allen's buyout was $20.8 million if fired Allen before Dec. 1, 2024, as part of the terms negotiated in the contract extension he signed in March 2021, but the university announced it had negotiated the buyout down to $15.5 million to be paid out in two installments "through the department of athletics donor funds."
The updated agreement came on the heels of Allen winning 2020 Big Ten Coach of the Year honors and leading the Hoosiers to back-to-back bowl games. He had a 24-22 record at the time.
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It also significantly increased how much the university owed him if they fired him without cause. The buyout would have dropped to $7.95 million on Dec. 1, 2024, $5.4 million on Dec. 1, 2025 and $2.75 million on Dec. 1, 2026.
Indiana suffered a season-ending 35-31 at Purdue on Saturday. The loss dropped the program to 9-28 over the last three seasons, 3-25 in Big Ten play.
The four FBS coaches fired in season — Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher ($76 million), Syracuse’s Dino Babers (reportedly between $8-9 million), Mississippi State’s Zach Arnett ($4.5 million) and Boise State’s Andy Avalos ($3 million) — will be owed $91 million.
Allen’s buyout is still among the highest ever paid out behind Fisher and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, who received a $21.7 million buyout from Auburn after being fired in 2020. Allen's buyout is equal to what the $15.5 million Auburn paid Malzahn's successor Bryan Harsin.
Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson fired basketball coach Archie Miller in 2021 when he was owed a $10.3 million buyout. It would have fallen to $3.5 million the following year. The university stated that private philanthropic funding covered the cost.
The Hoosiers will owe money to the rest of Allen’s staff as well.
Based on the most recent contracts for IU’s on-field assistant coaches, provided to The Herald Times in August, the school would have to pay out about a half year’s salary for each of them, estimated to be about $2.39 million in all.
That number includes more than $400,000 to offensive coordinator Rod Carey, who replaced Walt Bell at midseason.
The severance language in each of the contracts is similar. The university agrees to pay each assistant 100% of their remaining guaranteed compensation through June 30 following the head coach’s termination. Bell, who was fired in October, was the only staff member with a deal expiring at the end of this season.
The contracts all include offset language that would reduce Indiana’s obligations if the assistants are hired elsewhere.
According to the USA Today assistant coach salary database, Indiana’s salary pool for assistants ranked No. 35 in the country and No. 11 in the Big Ten.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU coach Tom Allen's buyout is be among highest ever after his firing
