Florida State University bought out its head football coach Willie Taggart’s contract on Sunday, leaving the institution on the hook for nearly $22 million. The former coach now makes that staggering sum to do nothing while the entire Florida State team is paid nothing to play football.
The university could have covered the annual operating budget of its engineering college and still had $7.5 million left over for raises or scholarships.
Taggart’s total buyout comes from three separate buyouts: $17.7 million from his position at Florida State, $3 million that Florida State paid to the University of Oregon to buy out his contract, and the remaining $1.3-million buyout that Oregon owed the University of South Florida, from when that institution hired Taggart, but which Florida State agreed to pay. If all of Taggart’s assistants were also to leave Florida State, the total monetary obligation would rise by $4 million.
ESPN’s Andrea Adelson reported that Florida State had raised $20 million from private donors to cover the buyouts, but a Florida State official denied that’s what the money was for.
Regardless of the source, Florida State owes Taggart $22 million. If that money was applied to his players instead, it could:
- Pay every starter on Florida State’s football team — and their backups — the National Football League minimum salary of $480,000.
- Cover the remaining $20,000 of the Florida State basketball player Michael Cofer’s GoFundMe to pay for his late father’s medical expenses. And then it could pay every Florida State basketball player the National Basketball Association’s rookie minimum salary of $898,310.
- Pay for the establishment of women’s rowing and lacrosse teams so that Florida State can meet the first prong of equal-opportunity-in-athletics compliance under Title IX …
- … and fund full scholarships for all of those additional female athletes …
- … and fund full scholarships for every current Florida State athlete without one.
- Cover the construction of 22 lazy rivers for athletes to rest and relax in following practice.
- Reimburse the Jacksonville Jaguars all of the money the team paid to Jalen Ramsey, a Florida State alum, before the cornerback demanded a trade last month.
Or if Florida State used the money it owes Taggart to support its educational efforts, it could:
- Wipe away 636 Florida students’ debt.
- Support 3,376 Bright Futures Scholarships, which cover the cost of tuition and fees for talented Florida high schoolers.
- Fund the entire annual operating budget of the joint Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering and still have $7.5 million to provide modest scholarships to those students or offer bonuses to faculty members.
Taggart’s payout contrasts with the amount of money that might be paid to athletes under state laws, like one passed recently in California, allowing student-athletes to benefit from the licensing of their name, image, and likeness. Some sources estimate that top athletes, like the former Duke University basketball player Zion Williamson, might earn as much as $2.5 million under the new rules. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, indicated his willingness last week to sign a bill granting Florida’s athletes such rights. Two bills have been proposed by Florida lawmakers, both of which would go into effect in July 2020.
Other recent proposed changes in Florida State athletics may also come into play in future payouts. The Florida State athletics department recently became a direct-support organization, a designation that makes it a quasi-private entity and exempt from open-records requests. That means details of where the money for future buyouts come from will be harder to acquire.
Wesley Jenkins is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter @_wesjenks, or email him at wjenkins@chronicle.com.
