The Lincoln Journal-Star reports that Bo Pelini has signed a multi-year contract for $1.1 million a year.
Now, I'm not an accountant by any means, but I used to work on accounting computer systems many years ago. (On the other hand, it's been a few years since I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express...) But to my eyes, the changes in Lincoln might not cost nearly as much as we worried. Bear with me for a minute.
Harvey Perlman signed Steve Pederson to a five year contract at $500,000 a year, entitling him to a $2.2 million buyout. But his replacement will only earn $250,000 a year, which means that while Nebraska is going to take a huge budget hit this season, Nebraska will be money ahead for the next few years, as the AD's salary is half of what it was going to be.
Likewise, Pederson granted Bill Callahan a contract extension that paid him $1.75 million a season, entitling him to receive $3.125 million on Tuesday as his buyout. His replacement will earn $1.1 million, or a savings of $650 thousand a year. Over the next four years, Nebraska will save $2.6 million.
Yeah, the payoffs bite. The contract extensions these gentlemen were ill-advised, and Nebraska is going to pay the price. But the news isn't as bad as it seems, as not only did Nebraska get upgrades in the athletic director and head football coaches, the salaries went down meaning that the buyouts aren't going to cost nearly as much as we feared.