Charlie Weis’ buyout ultimately cost Notre Dame nearly $19 million
Charlie Weis has ultimately cleared nearly $19 million to not coach Notre Dame.
The school made a final payment of $2,054,742 to Weis in December of 2015 as part of the former head coach’s buyout after being fired following the 2009 season, according to tax forms released Monday. That payment was the final one of six installments (he was Notre Dame’s highest-paid athletics employee in 2014. Seriously.), which followed an initial payment of $6,638,403 after his firing.
The final tally, when adding it all up, is $18,966,867.
[Follow Dr. Saturday on social media: Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr]
Current Irish coach Brian Kelly received $1,645,867 for the filing period — from July 2015 to June 2016 — although that likely does not match his total earnings, given that income from sources such as a shoe company does not have to be reported on the tax forms. Kelly was listed in 2014 as having received $1,624,730. (He later signed a contract extension in January of 2016.)
Another ex-Irish coach, former defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, received $1,140,095 for the 2015 period, up slightly from his 2014 first-year earnings of $1,106,156. VanGorder was fired four games into the 2016 season.
[More college football from Yahoo Sports: ACC spring practice summaries]
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was credited with making $3,110,291 in 2015, but $900,000 of that amount had been reported on earlier returns as deferred compensation. Even without taking that deferred compensation into account, Swarbrick’s $2,210,291 is a big bump from his listed 2014 compensation of $1,605,070.
– – – – – – –
Matt Fortuna is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
