The buyout economics of the 2026-27 coaching carousel: Baylor, NC State face stiff payouts

The 2026-27 college football coaching carousel is in full swing, and these teams will have to pony up to pay off their former coaches

Oct 25, 2026 at 1:10 pm ET • 2 min read

Baylor became the third Power Four program to fire its head coach on Sunday when it dismissed Dave Aranda after seven seasons. 

Baylor joined North Carolina State and Maryland as the coaching carousel finally got spinning in late October. 

With each firing comes a high financial cost to move on from the coach. What is each school paying to fire its coach, and where could it go next? CBS Sports breaks it down below.

Baylor

Fired coach: Dave Aranda (40-40 in 7 seasons)

Cost: Reportedly $12 million

Baylor fired Dave Aranda on Sunday following disappointing losses to TCU and Kansas. Aranda had seemingly cooled his seat with a 4-1 start, but those losses ultimately doomed him. As a private school, Baylor does not release coaching contracts the way public schools must. The buyout figure was believed to be approximately $12 million last season, while Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported that same figure for this year's cost. 

Candidates to replace Aranda include Boise State's Spencer Danielson and UTSA's Jeff Traylor. Check out the full list of Baylor coaching options here. 

Maryland

Fired coach: Mike Locksley (39-54 in 8 seasons)

Cost: $9.75 million 

Maryland kicked off the coaching carousel when it fired Mike Locksley on Wednesday. The school owes Locksley around $9.75 million with no offsets if he takes another job. Half of that $9.75 million is due to Locksley within sixty days. He had been under contract through 2028 but was let go after a 2-5 start to the season, which included losses to Rutgers, Virginia Tech and UCLA. 

Candidates to replace Locksley include Wake Forest's Jake Dickert, New Mexico's Jason Eck and Memphis' Charles Huff. Full candidates list here. 

North Carolina State

Fired coach: Dave Doeren (98-73 in 14 seasons)

Cost: $10.3 million 

NC State opted for a rare Saturday afternoon firing when it dumped Dave Doeren after 14 seasons. There had been rumblings before the season that this could be Doeren's last in Raleigh, but that was centered around a possible retirement and not a firing. Instead, NC State will pay approximately $10.3 million to buy out the remainder of a contract set to run through 2029. NC State owes Doeren a little more than $600,000 within the next 30 days, and can then pay the remainder in monthly installments. The 54-year-old Doeren does have a clause in his contract requiring him to make reasonable efforts to find another job, which could offset the buyout NC State owes. 

The early candidate to watch to replace Doeren is former NC State quarterback great Philip Rivers. More on Rivers and NC State here.