SEC even does coaches' buyouts big

• In the last two years, six of the SEC's 14 schools have made coaching changes at $26.5 million
• Auburn owes former football coach Gene Chizik, who was fired, $7.55 million over the next four years
• It cost Tennessee $5 million to buyout Derek Dooley's contract, which had four years remaining

The Southeastern Conference does everything bigger in football, including how much schools are paying their former coaches not to coach.

When Auburn fired Gene Chizik on Sunday, athletic director Jay Jacobs acknowledged the school's contractual obligation to pay him $7.55 million in monthly installments over the next four years. When Auburn fired Tommy Tuberville in 2008, it owed him $5.083.

That $12.28 million outlay for two fired head coaches in a span of just four years is jarring, but it's part of a growing trend in the SEC. In the last two years, six of the league's 14 schools have made coaching changes at a total buyout cost of $26.5 million.

"I decided we could not fall farther behind waiting another year," Jacobs said at a news conference Sunday, one day after Auburn completed a 3-9 season.

Though some of Chizik's buyout could be offset by future employment – if he got another job next year, for instance, Auburn would only owe him the difference between his new and old salary – it is still an increasingly expensive proposition to change coaches, especially in the pressure-packed SEC.

Chizik, for instance, was fired just two years after winning a national title. Derek Dooley, who was fired by Tennessee on Nov. 18, only got three seasons before the school decided to swallow $5 million over the four years remaining on his contract. Tennessee's chancellor, Jimmy Cheek, released a statement last Tuesday that the athletic department's annual $6 million contribution to the general university fund would be reinvested for the next three years to pay for the changes.

Even at Kentucky, which made the league's least expensive coaching change, it cost $2.5 million to buy out Joker Phillips after his third season. (Arkansas, the other school in the midst of a coaching search, did not owe Bobby Petrino any of his $18 million buyout because it fired him with cause.)

Why do schools spend that kind of money to get rid of a coach? Just consider the results of the two coaching changes last offseason in the SEC. At Ole Miss, which agreed to pay Houston Nutt a $6 million buyout, the team went from 2-10 last season to 6-6 in its first year under Hugh Freeze. At Texas A&M, the $5.8 million buyout for Mike Sherman after a 7-6 season has already had a huge return on investment. Under first-year coach Kevin Sumlin,the Aggies went 10-2, beat No. 2-ranked Alabama and are in line for a significant bowl game.