The buyout economics of the 2026-27 coaching carousel: Baylor, NC State face stiff payouts

The 2026-27 college football coaching carousel is in full swing, and these teams will have to pony up to pay off their former coaches Baylor became the third Power Four program to fire its head coach on Sunday when it dismissed Dave Aranda after seven seasons. Baylor joined North Carolina State and Maryland as the coaching carousel finally got spinning in late October. With each firing comes a high financial cost to move on from the coach. What is each school paying to fire its coach, and where could it go next? CBS Sports breaks it down below. Baylor fired Dave Aranda on Sunday following disappointing losses to TCU and Kansas.

Aranda had seemingly cooled his seat with a 4-1 start, but those losses ultimately doomed him. As a private school, Baylor does not release coaching contracts the way public schools must. The buyout figure was believed to be approximately $12 million last season, while Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported that same figure for this year's cost. Candidates to replace Aranda include Boise State's Spencer Danielson and UTSA's Jeff Traylor. Check out the full list of Baylor coaching options here. Maryland kicked off the coaching carousel when it fired Mike Locksley on Wednesday. The school owes Locksley around $9.75 million with no offsets if he takes another job. Half of