Mario Cristobal is currently one of the most talked about head coaches in college football, and not for a good reason. Instead of taking knees to seal the win for Miami against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Cristobal inexplicably decided to run the ball. The Hurricanes fumbled the ball and the Yellow Jackets marched downfield to score a game-winning touchdown. Such an egregious mistake has fans asking if he should be fired. We explore Mario Cristobal’s contract and buyout to see if this is an option for Miami after Saturday’s debacle.
Let’s rewind to Saturday. Miami are up late against Georgia Tech. It’s so late, in fact, that there are just 30 seconds left, Georgia Tech has no timeouts, take a knee and the game is over. But Miami run the ball, they fumble it and somehow end up losing the game.
All Miami had to do was take a knee and the game was over.
They instead handed it off to their RB. He fumbled.
Georgia Tech scored 32 seconds later with just 1 second left.
Just absolutely brutal. pic.twitter.com/ObdhS3E2Cx
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 8, 2023
TheSportsDaily office chatter on Monday was about head coach Mario Cristobal and that totally inexplicable decision. Some of us (me) said they would fire him on the spot. This led us here, we will now take a look at his contract and buyout.
Mario Cristobal Contract
Mario Cristobal was brought onboard by the Miami Hurricanes in 2021. His contract was a massive ten-year deal, valued at $80 million. These contracts are usually backloaded meaning he will get a salary increase every year, but his salary would amount to an average of $8 million per year if he saw out the contract without any extensions or amendments.
With the University of Miami being a private institution, we don’t have access to exact numbers on other incentives and bonuses in Cristobal’s contract. However, it is likely that he has incentives for a certain number of wins in a season, winning awards, winning the ACC and reaching the College Football Playoff. Below is an example of how this might look when compared to others in a simiilar salary range:
- $500,000 bonus for winning the College Football Playoff National Championship game
- $250,000 for reaching the CFP semifinals
- $100,000 for playing in any of the other four New Year’s Six bowls
- $75,000 for any bowl game where Miami wins at least seven games
- $150,000 for winning the ACC Championship
- $100,000 for winning 9 games in a single season
- $50,000 for being declared AP or Walter Camp National Coach of the Year
Mario Cristobal Buyout
Cristobal’s buyout is likely substantial. If we operate on the basis that his contract is fully guaranteed, then a huge chunk of the original $80 million would still be owed. At the end of this season, it is likely that Cristobal’s buyout would be in the range of $65 million.
This is obviously a massive sum and not a decision that Miami could make as a knee-jerk reaction to one bad decision, regardless of how catastrophic it was.
It is likely that this will be forgiven. Regardless of where that playcall comes from, the buck stops with the head coach. Crisotbal could have and should have called for the QB to kneel and Miami should have won that game.
However, Miami is unlikely to splurge $65 million because of this and will probably stick by Cristobal. Whether they should or not is simply a matter of opinion.
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