The Buyout Clause

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With 2014 behind us and many of you staring into 2015 like a deer in headlights, I thought I’d give you a rant about something I find to be of a sensitive nature that I find absolutely pathetic.

There’s a big push in our country to increase the pay rates for lower class workers.  Sadly, the cattle who support this idea don’t really understand the politics behind this movement, nor do they see how being bumped from a lower pay grade to a higher pay grade will also bump them to a higher tax bracket.  

But hey!  Those politicians cattle drivers wouldn’t lie to you!  You’ll get a bigger paycheck…Annnd so will FICA, Social Security, Medicare and anything else they take money out of your check for these days! 

But that’s not my gripe. 

I’m here to gripe about the fact that the University of Pittsburgh fired their Athletic Director; who, by the way, can’t seem to do a very good job anywhere he goes. 

However, the fact that he got fired and can’t seem to do a good job isn’t the issue.  What is the issue is that his buy out was…get this…two million dollars.  (for those bovine in the herd who can’t picture what two million dollars looks like…click the number for a picture –>  $2,000,000). 

That’s right…   He does a crappy job…  Gets fired…  Walks away with a check for two million dollars.  

But that’s not all…

The University of Nebraska recently fired their head football coach.  His buyout was estimated at around seven million dollars.  (basically to be paid one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a month for the next four years.)

That’s right…  He does a crappy job…   Gets fired…  Walks away with a check for seven million dollars.  (of course, he didn’t really do a crappy job…they just didn’t like his personality.)

Jim McElwain was hired away from Colorado State and the University of Florida had to pay that institution five million dollars to “buyout” his contract.

Are you seeing the epidemic here?  Or do I have to spell it out for you? 

(What am I saying?)   …   (look who I’m talking too)  …  (Of course I’ll have to spell it out for you.)

   …  heavy sigh  …  

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Here’s the problem.  We have a bunch of people who are over educated and think they deserve more than they really do.  The people who run universities, colleges and athletic programs are making way more money than they should be. 

I know inflation is a factor and trust me…I understand the whole idea of a capitalistic, free market system where the economic structure is fueled by wealth, selfishness and greed, but seven million dollars for getting fired from a taxpayer backed, NON-Profit institution?

If only every job in the country were set up that way! 

I’d love to walk into a job interview, get hired and sign a contract with a buyout clause. 

I’d do the minimum amount of work for the minimum amount of time dictated by the contract and then skate by for a couple years until I knew that I could get the negotiations going again. 

I’d then have my agent negotiate a larger salary with a longer duration on the contract, increase the amount of the buyout if I got fired before the contract was up, then I’d slack off after signing the new contract … JUST … so I could get fired and rake in a large pile of dough.  

And after the check was in the bank…I’d retire.

And this is what makes me bitter…I don’t have that freedom in my current career and it’s nearly impossible for me to break into a career as an Athletic Director, college football coach or university president. 

Lord knows I’ve tried…there’s a lot of money in them thar’ hills!

But I’m under educated and I’m not part of their “clique”.   The lower class people who are clamoring for more money and the politicians who are trying to make those in the lower class believe that a higher salary will cure what ails them, are attacking the wrong beast. 

They need to go after these secondary, “non-profit” public education institutions, and force them to cap all pay for any person employed for them at One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) with ZERO bonuses. That doesn’t mean everyone makes that salary…it’s the cap!  The base should be $40,000 or less.

ALL other monies that are made from athletics, tuition or merchandise sales will be placed into a fund that allows the schools to pay for salaries and other administrative costs. 

The remainder of the money in that fund will provide lower cost tuition, or in some cases, free tuition, for those in-state residents who are at or below poverty level.  (income tax returns are a great way to prove their status.)

Of course, in-state residents who make more than a certain amount of money annually along with students who come from out-of-state, would pay a higher tuition rate.  And each public institution would create rules to determine who would be considered “in-state,” “out-of-state,” wealthy or poverty stricken.  

This would help those living in poverty to get an education they couldn’t otherwise afford.  It would also curb officials at those public institutions from being paid exorbitant amounts of money, might end large buyouts for doing a crappy job and getting fired before your contract expires; and above all else, it should put an end to “agents” negotiating these contracts and stealing from the taxpayers.

It’s not a perfect plan…but I’m tired of all the hype being pushed in the direction of raising minimum wage.  That’s not what needs to change. 

The secondary education system in this country needs to change.  The greediness of people needs to change.  The selfishness of the educated idiot needs to change.  And the hype over athletics in universities needs to change.  But most of all the contract buyouts for people who work for non-profits needs to change and be done away with.

The buyout clause, minimum wage hike, administrators, coaches, politicians and the whole secondary education system are pathetic!