Penn State could end up paying recently fired coach James Franklin much less than his full buyout, which is in the neighborhood of $50 million, according to a report from Front Office Sports.
The terms of Franklin’s 2021 contract extension, obtained by FOS, include a “duty to mitigate” clause which dictates that whatever salary he receives from a future position will offset what Penn State owes him.
The clause reads: “Should Coach obtain such applicable employment prior to the date this Contract would otherwise have expired, the University’s obligation to make payments to Coach … will be offset by the total compensation earned by Coach from such applicable new position through the end of the otherwise unexpired term of this agreement.”
Essentially, should Franklin take another job in the field, whatever salary the new job pays him, be it coaching or broadcasting, would be taken out of Penn State’s annual buyout number of $8 million each of the next six years through the end of the 2031 season.
The duty to mitigate clause requires him to attempt to find a new job, stating, “Once terminated, Coach is obligated to diligently search for and make a good faith effort to obtain another position appropriate for his skill set and to provide the university upon request with evidence that he is seeking such employment.”
That clause also requires the 53-year-old Franklin “to make good faith efforts to obtain the maximum reasonable salary” at his new job.
Things ended abruptly for Franklin at Penn State, with losses to Big Ten bottom-dwellers UCLA and Northwestern after the Nittany Lions started the season as the No. 2 team in the AP poll. However, he still had quite a bit of success during his 12-year tenure, leading Penn State to six double-digit-win seasons, the 2016 Big Ten title and an appearance in the College Football Playoff semifinals last season.
With prominent jobs such as Arkansas, UCLA, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State already open, and a few even bigger jobs such as Florida, Auburn and others potentially coming open later this year, Franklin could have interest from some high-level teams if he desires to remain in coaching.
