I keep reading where people think we gave Collins this MacDaddy type of contract. We didn't. We are paying him near the bottom of P5 coaches. Yes, it's a lot of money, but in the P5 coaching market, it's basically minimum wage. I also think people are freaking out at the length of the contract. We gave him 7 years, but the buyout steps down significantly after 4 years. After next year (year 4), the buyout is a manageable ($7.2m). Again, that might sound like a lot, but in the P5 coaching market, this is very cheap.
That being said, it is expensive to fire a coach prior to 4 years and it should be. It adds a level of discipline when dealing with a dissatisfied fan base. Could you imagine the state of any football program if you could fire a head coach every two years.