With the USA Today coach salary database out, let’s revisit DJ Durkin’s contract

Maryland football head coach DJ Durkin has been on administrative leave for nearly two months now, and still seems unlikely to return. There’s still an ongoing investigation into the program’s culture, but it’s worth taking a look at how much it may cost to jettison him.

It’s important to note that all of this depends on a situation where the investigation concludes and Maryland gets rid of the embattled coach, but doesn’t find “fireable cause.” What is and isn’t a fireable cause is a conversation for another day, but these are estimates of what it might cost in that case.

USA Today published its yearly database of college football salaries on Wednesday, and Durkin’s salary ranks 53rd in the nation at $2,512,000 with a current buyout of $5,096,178. That buyout number is, naturally, down from the $6,833,104 it would have cost to buy him out last year. If the two parties reach an agreement where Durkin resigns, a buyout could potentially run near that figure.

Durkin’s contract stipulates the university would owe him 65 percent of his remaining salary if he’s fired without cause. Durkin is currently in the third year of a six-year contract set to extend to 2021 and pay an estimated $15.5 million. Not including his 2018 salary, Durkin has three years and $7,836,000 left on the deal, including his annualized $50,000 bonuses. That would leave Maryland on the hook for 65 percent of that, which comes out to $5,093,400, about a $3,000 difference.

There’s still the possibility the board decides to reinstate Durkin as head coach, and also the chance the investigation finds a fireable offense. But if neither of those things happen, it’s likely the school will have to spend around $5 million to move on from Durkin, in addition to whatever a new coach would cost.

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