Just imagine how much Nick Saban would've cost the Texas Longhorns.
The Dallas Morning News reported Friday that the University of Texas will spend close to $13 million in 2014 on the head coaching position.
The bill starts with the fee for the search firm that helped the Longhorns pinpoint Strong out of a pool of candidates. That cost the school $266,990.
The Longhorns will pay Strong $5 million in 2014, but then they had to buy out his contract with the Louisville Cardinals, which cost them an addition $4.375 million.
But the Longhorns also had a coach in place in Mack Brown that it had to move out of the way to usher in the Strong era. Texas spent $3.25 million on Brown's yearly base salary plus a buyout of his contract, which set back the university an additional $3.25 million.
But it doesn't stop there.
Strong also has incentives in his contract, such as bonuses for winning or playing in a national championship game, appearing in bowl games, finishing in the top-10 rankings and producing a set grade point average for the team.
Should Strong meet all those incentives, the head coach price tag jumps to more than $14 million, the Dallas Morning News reported.
If there's one athletic department in the country that can absorb that price tag, it's Texas. According to the Dallas Morning News, the Longhorns athletic department earned $163 million in 2012. The head coaching spot in 2014, as expensive as it is, would be only 8 percent (or more with the incentives) of that total revenue.
The Longhorns no doubt would love to pay Strong all his incentives because that would re-establish the program not only as a Big 12 power but also a national power. And with college football going to a playoff system, Texas would earn the profits of an extra football game if it were to qualify for one of the four playoff teams to contend for the national championship in 2014 and beyond.
Will Charlie Strong help the Longhorns recoup their 2014 expenditures on the head coaching position? Comment below or tell us@SportsWN.
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