I thought this was a very interesting article...and "almost" 100% prophetic.

USA Today (2020) 7 Coaches on Hot Seat Too Big to Buy Out

Let's summarize the 7 here. It's 2021. Are these coaches still at that school?

Coach (school); Still there?
1. Clay Helton (USC) ; No
2. Will Muschamp (South Carolina) ; No
3. Tom Herman (Texas) ; No
4. Steve Addazio (Colorado State) ; Yes
5. Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) ; No
6. Gus Malzahn (Auburn) ; No
7. Rick Stockstill (Middle Tennessee) ; Yes

Now, I think it's obvious the advantages Power Conference money has when you can fire a coach after one bad year with a $20+ million buyout. The only two on the list still there are non-Power Conference schools.

Addazio is in the 2nd year of his contract with a buyout of just over $5 million at the time of the article ($1.2 million per year). Addazio's son, Louie, played under him when he was the head coach at Boston College and is now a positions coach with his dad at CSU-Fort Collins. Addazio's 1-year record of 2-5 is good for a 0.285 win percentage.

Stockstill is in his 16th year as coach with a record of 95-94 (a 0.502 win percentage) and like Addazio, Stockstill coached his son at the same school he coached with the son now being a positions coach at the school where the dad is. Rick Stockstill is in the 6th year of his newest contract with a buyout that is just under $6 million at the time of the article or roughly $1.5 million per year, if you do the math based on the December 31, 2024 expiration date, which is where the contract is extended to. Further investigation revealed by this 2015 article in The Nashville Tennessean shows that Stockstill can extend his contract one year (and it didn't put a cap on grantable extensions in a specified period), but it seems like I saw that before, and if any Middle Tennessee fans out there know for sure, please share that evidence:

Quote:The new contract will extend automatically for one year if the team achieves three different criteria: an Academic Progress Rate of at least 940, winning more than half of its games or at least six conference games, and avoiding major NCAA violations while under Stockstill’s guidance.

You figure Stockstill is always hitting APR criteria and the NCAA compliance criteria, so it's the overall or conference records each year that could feasibly keep this contract alive as long as he is alive or retires or voluntarily quits.

This year Middle Tennessee will likely finish 1-11 and at best maybe 4-8. So he won't get the extension for this year.

Future MT schedules are laid out so far in 2022 and 2023 with both Mizzouri and CSU-Fort Collins. MT could beat CSU but not Mizzouri. Duke and Ole Miss are slated in 2024 and could easily be losses based on performance trends. Each season will likely carry a gimme game against a 1-AA team and you would think a win. The 4th non-conference FBS games are unknown.

It's hard to watch such reasonably decent programs of yesteryear fall into such complete and total disrepair. And what's scary is how such incredible levels of mediocrity are simply okay with the people in charge--unphased by dwindling attendance, losses in season ticker holders, and losses in contributions to the athletic club at the school.