Merely three weeks into the season, UCLA’s DeShaun Foster and Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry were out of a job. Seven weeks later, a half-dozen more coaches were added to the list of midseason firings – and high-profile ones at that.

A quarter of the SEC’s coaches who started the season are gone. So are longtime coaches James Franklin of Penn State and Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy.

It’s not as simple as an uncomfortable conversation and launching a search for the new coach. Universities are on the hook for millions of dollars for coaches they’re no longer employing.

By Week 10, buyout totals for assistant and head coaches have climbed to approximately $185 million, a figure that raises the question of whether athletic departments spending their way out of a headache is still a feasible route

See Full Page