Buyout might not stop Baylor
Big 12 school has the money to go after UCF’s Heupel.
Brace yourself, UCF fans. The onslaught, for all intents and purposes, is about to begin.
You could well be about to experience the first of what will likely be many all-out Power 5 pursuits of football coach Josh Heupel.
There have been rumblings that Baylor, who just lost coach Matt Rhule to the NFL's Carolina
Panthers, is interested in Heupel. It's certainly no secret that Heupel's pyrotechnic offense, Big 12 coaching experience and Texas recruiting ties make him an enticing candidate for Baylor. And, believe me, the Bears have enough money to pay off UCF and perhaps make Heupel an offer he can't refuse.
I wrote a column a couple weeks ago pointing out many Power 5 programs likely have shied away from Heupel because of the massive $10 million buyout that UCF athletics director Danny White put in Heupel's contract when he hired him.
Not only is Heupel's buyout significantly larger than most coaching buyouts, it is set up so that UCF must be paid the $10 million in one large lump sum before another school can hire Heupel. I firmly believe that even if, say, FSU had wanted to hire Heupel instead of Memphis coach Mike Norvell, the debtridden Seminoles simply couldn't afford to pay Heupel's $10 million hiring buyout on the heels of
paying Willie Taggart’s $18 million firing buyout.
However, Baylor is different. The Carolina Panthers actually paid Baylor $6 million to buy out Rhule from his college contract before they signed him to a massive seven-year, $60 million contract. What that means is Baylor could use the $6 million from the Panthers and would only have to come up with $4 million to buy out Heupel’s contract.
If the Bears truly want Heupel, they are the type of school that has the money to get it done. Not only does Baylor rake in the Big 12 TV money, but it is also the largest Baptist university in the world and has a plethora of big-money donors as a result.
Baylor was reportedly paying Rhule more than $4 million a year, which is about twice what Heupel makes at UCF. However, the Knights are working on a contract extension for Heupel that would increase his salary.
Whether it’s Baylor right now or some other rolling-in-the-dough Power 5 program in the future, you know it’s just a matter of time before Heupel is aggressively courted. He has everything big-money programs are looking for: He’s young, he’s a quarterback guru and he has one of the brightest offensive minds in football.
This year’s UCF offense was ranked second in nation, only behind national championship favorite LSU. Last year’s offense was ranked fifth in the nation. And before coming to UCF, Heupel was offensive coordinator for two years at Missouri, where he transformed the moribund
Tigers into the No. 1 offense in the SEC.
“We have launched a national search for our next head coach, and we will not make any comments on prospective candidates or where we are in the process until we are ready to introduce the next leader of our football program,” Baylor athletics director Mack Rhoades said in a statement.
Translation: Baylor’s search will likely be done quietly and quickly.
The good news for the Knights is this: We don’t know for sure if Heupel is actually a candidate for the Baylor job.
The bad news for the Knights is this: He will be candidate for many other big-time Power 5 jobs in the years to come.
Brace yourself, UCF fans.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on FM 96.9 and AM 740.