Big Ten coach buyout: What is Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule's buyout in 2024?

Nov 23, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule coaches against the Wisconsin Badgers during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images
Nov 23, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule coaches against the Wisconsin Badgers during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images
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The Nebraska Cornhuskers know what it’s like to fire a coach. They’ve had to fire a few over the past 20 or so seasons. And so, Nebraska football fans are more than familiar with what buyouts in college football coaching contracts tend to look like. And they should certainly be aware of the fact that Matt Rhule (their current head coach) has one of the largest buyouts in the country.

Hopefully Nebraska fans won’t get impatient with Rhule any time soon. Speaking objectively for a moment, it wouldn’t make a ton of sense for a program that is wandering out in the wilderness to fire a man who has shown he can rebuild teams that don’t exactly have a lot working out for them in that moment when he’s hired. 

And the Huskers haven’t exactly had much going for them in this century. Most of their “recent” success that they want to really remember was back before their current players were born. So, they should continue to be patient with Rhule.

I’m not necessarily saying folks aren’t being patient, I just want to give Nebraska fans a pretty strong reminder of what it would cost for them to get rid of a good coach like Rhule. 

And the buyout is big, folks. 

What is Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule’s buyout?

For what it’s worth, it seems like the folks leading the Huskers are going all in on trusting Rhule to lead them going forward. Because when they got him to Lincoln, they decided to put a massive buyout in his contract.

If the Huskers were to fire Rhule, his buyout would be a measly, meager $56,287,500 as of December 1, 2024. No big deal, right? Maybe Warren Buffett would pay that for the Huskers? Probably not. Nor should he. 

Rhule is recruiting well, has built a pretty solid roster, and just picked up Dana Holgorsen to step in and design a decent offense for Nebraska. He’s also just in his second season and has a true freshman quarterback. He needs some more time. And Nebraska fans should know what happens if you fire a good coach prematurely.