Federal bill introduced to cap college coaches' salaries as buyouts rise

As coaches’ salaries and buyouts rise around college football, a federal bill has been introduced to curb that trend. U.S. Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) introduced the “Correcting Opportunity and Accountability in Collegiate Hiring (COACH) Act.”

Under the COACH Act, a cap would go into place and amend the Higher Education Act of 1965. Athletics department employees would not be able to receive total compensation – including annual salaries and buyouts – worth more than 10 times a school’s tuition and fees for undergraduate students in the most recent academic year.

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In addition, the bill would create an antitrust “safe harbor” to allow such a cap. The legislation was introduced Oct. 24 as H.R. 5812 and referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce.

“Institutions participating in programs under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) receive substantial Federal support and tax advantages, creating a heightened obligation to manage athletics in service of educational priorities and equal opportunity,” the bill reads.

“Escalating compensation and buyouts for athletics personnel can divert resources from academic priorities and broad-based opportunities, including women’s and Olympic sports, and warrant reasonable, uniform guard rails as a condition of title IV participation.”

The bill’s introduction came as LSU announced it was parting ways with head coach Brian Kelly. While the two sides are still negotiating specific terms of Kelly’s buyout, LSU is on the hook for more than $53 million.

Kelly’s departure comes after Penn State fired James Franklin, who is due $48.6 million in what was the second-highest buyout figure in college football history. All told, schools are facing more than $169 million in buyouts as the coaching carousel begins to heat up.

“College sports is not the free market,” Baumgartner wrote on X. “Colleges are highly subsidized public goods. Great US military generals make $225,000/yr. Great Supreme Court Judged make $300,000/yr. Great HS Coaches (who also teach) make $100,000 – $150,000/yr. Why do bad college coaches get $10m/yr?”

The COACH Act includes similar language to a bill filed by Baumgartner in April, which would transform college sports. Dubbed the “Restore College Sports Act,” it would replace the NCAA with the American College Sports Association, which would have a commissioner appointed by the President with advice and consent of the Senate.

The Restore College Sports Act would also cap coaches’ salaries and also stated NIL funds and revenue directly shared with schools be distributed “equally among all student athletes of such institutions within the ACSA.”