Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh clarifies reports on buyout amount for Paul Chryst

It was reported that former Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst is owed a buyout of more than $16.4 million, but the Badgers will apparently pay much less. After parting ways with Chryst on Sunday, athletic director Chris McIntosh addressed the buyout in a press conference alongside interim head coach Jim Leonhard.

“We’ll share more about the specifics of where we ended up with Paul at a future date,” McIntosh said. “What I can tell you today is that the number that we agreed to is significantly less than the numbers that have been reported or even the number that would have been due per the terms of his contract.”

Chryst was in his eighth season as the Badgers coach, having compiled a 67-26 record in that span. He is the third-winningest coach in program history and led Wisconsin to bowl appearances in all seven of his full seasons at the helm. However, he was off to just a 2-3 start this season.

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Chryst is a former Badgers quarterback who took over the head coaching position in 2015 following three seasons as the head coach at Pittsburgh. Prior to that, he was an offensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2005-11.

The decision to fire Chryst is surprising for many reasons, one being that Wisconsin gave him a raise of nearly $1 million last season. Had the Badgers been forced to pay the original $16.4 million buyout to Paul Chryst, it would have been one of the most expensive in the country. For reference, the buyout would cost the school $1.4 million more than it cost Nebraska to let go of Scott Frost and, needless to say, Chryst had much more success than Frost.

Instead, it appears the two sides were able to come to an agreement they could both be happy with. Wisconsin will move forward into its first game without Chryst at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday against Northwestern.