If Josh Pastner got fired this season he would receive a $10.7 million buyout, the biggest in college basketball history.
The buyout for Pastner's salary is actually c. $500K. The $10.7 million is what the school owes him in total salary over the final four years of his contract, which expires at the end of 2020 @ his present salary of approximately $2.65 million per year. The school owes that if he's fired. Even then, there is a no mitigation clause in his contract meaning that if he is fired and takes a job making $1 million a year, that new salary does not offset any of the $2.65 million. He is still owed every penny of that regardless of how much he makes elsewhere.
If Pastner quits--and Memphis fans are doing everything possible to make his life a living hell--the contract is void and Memphis owes nothing. In two years, attendance has dropped from over 16,000 to around 10,000 and those are mostly no shows.
It also means the AD at Memphis who negotiated this contract is incredibly stupid.
Rumors are that TCU is interested in him. I hate to beg, but please somebody, anybody, make Pastner an offer he can't refuse.
