Tennessee football: Five reasons Josh Heupel won’t leave for Oklahoma Sooners

3. It would cost Josh Heupel to leave UT.

There are more ways than one in which Josh Heupel would have to shell out some money to leave Tennessee football. The first is the buyout. When Lane Kiffin left at the end of 2009, he took advantage of Mike Hamilton giving out gigantic contracts to him and his staff with very little penalty if he left elsewhere. Kiffin’s owed UT $800,000 when he left.

In Heupel’s case, though, things are a lot more expensive. His buyout is $8 million, 10 times what it was for Kiffin. Sure, OU could pay Heupel’s buyout if it really wanted him, but that seems like a lot of money. It seems unlikely that Heupel wouldn’t be on the hook for some of that.

More importantly, Heupel’s salary suggests he wouldn’t be able to pay his buyout. That number is twice what he makes, which is $4 million a year. Speaking of salary, his salary is likely to raise after what he did just one year on the job. There are already some perks with reaching a bowl and overachieving expectations, so watch out for a payday for Heupel.

On the other hand, Oklahoma paid Lincoln Riley $3.1 million his first year on the job back in 2017. There’s a report from Matt Miller of ESPN that OU wouldn’t match USC’s offer. Taking it all into account, Heupel would have to accept a salary reduction and pay a huge buyout while moving to a state with an income tax if he takes the OU job.