‘It’s obscene’: Ursula criticizes college coach buyouts funded by taxpayers

The latest edition of college athletics’ financial woes has come from its coaches, rather than its players. Louisiana State University’s head football coach, Brian Kelly, was relieved of his duties on Oct. 26, leaving behind $58.2 million of guaranteed contract buyouts for Kelly, despite falling six years short of his 10-year contract.

The Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry spoke on “The Pat McAfee Show” to reveal that taxpayers are largely on the hook for Kelly’s buyout, stating that, “That contract binds the State of Louisiana, if we have to pay $53 million, and somebody else doesn’t step up to foot the bill, the state of Louisiana has to foot that bill.”

KIRO hosts Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio broke down the troubling financial landscape college athletics has become, which now relies on state taxpayers to bail out lucrative coaching contracts as the programs continue to expand further.

“College coaches, if and when they fail, they have buyouts. James Franklin at Penn State just got dang near $50 million in a buyout. Name a job that you can do, fail at, and get paid out,” Gee said. “Here’s the kicker: these are state schools. When it’s a state school, and you start talking about the payout, lots of people don’t know that taxpayer money comes into play. The focus used to always be on the players; meanwhile, the coaches are raking in money hand over fist.”

Ursula pointed to the concerning amount of money coaches are allotted in a university’s budget, only to underperform and continue to receive funding from state taxpayers long after they’ve left the position.

“It’s almost obscene that this job can get you tons of money if you are a failure at it, and then you can continue to get paid for doing nothing,” Ursula said.

“That’s what’s sad, and the costs are only going to go up for taxpayers in the end,” KIRO producer Andrew Lanier said. “All the programs are in debt, and we’re bidding more and more with public money to play a game.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.