Nebraska's coach search is in crunch time. We start our cases for and against the top candidates with Matt Rhule.
nebraska.rivals.com
@Zack_Carp
I think it makes sense that, should Rhule want our job, he then negotiates a lumpsum settlement of his Carolina buyout because we will be paying him less than $10M a year.
- Carolina doesn’t want to be on the hook for $40M over 4 years
- Rhule wants to make incremental money for working at a new job
- Nebraska wants their coach to have a financial stake in the job
Once Rhule is sure he has found a job he would rather do than just sit and collect money, and he knows what it will pay, he goes to Carolina and says he is willing to take a settlement for a premium over the potential offset remainder. His arguments are he won’t take the job if he does get paid more than he gets paid for sitting around and he can tell Carolina it takes them off the hook should he get fired or quit.
I would think Carolina would be glad to get him working and take a $10M/year risk off the table.
Let’s say we pay $5.5M a year for 4 years – maybe Carolina settles the $40M obligation for $25M, and Rhule potential nets $7M incremental over 4 years for taking the Nebraska job. Carolina locks in a potential $15M savings. Nebraska is happy because Rhule knows his $5.5M from Nebraska, to the extent it is not fully guaranteed, goes away if he is fired or quits – he has a real economic stake in our comp package.
This negotiation would likely be taking place now if the Rhule rumors are correct, because I don’t thin Rhule would be willing to cut the $40M down unless and until he was sure he wanted to do the job and knew what it paid.
Nebraska would not be able to announce a hire right away because then Rhule loses much of his leverage to secure a premium over the potential Carolina remainder. In fact, he may not even agree to take the job until that settlement is done. The good news is that it almost certainly will get done as everybody is better off if it does.