Report: Panthers on the hook for $40 million buyout with offsetting stipulation after firing Matt Rhule

The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule on Monday, early in his third season in charge of the organization. Immediately, speculation about possible college head coaching jobs Rhule could be a candidate for began.

There’s an interesting bit of contractual news on Rhule’s firing that surfaced in the hours after his dismissal, too.

According to a report from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Rhule is set to receive a $40 million buyout per the terms of his contract. But while Carolina is ‘on the hook’ for this season’s salary, future salary obligations from the buyout can be offset by any future college employment.

My understanding of the contract of former #Panthers coach Matt Rhule: Carolina is on the hook for this season, but the salaries for the ensuing seasons are offset by what his future college job pays him. Rhule gets all $40M, but Panthers likely only pay this year of it.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 10, 2022

The offsetting language is fairly typical in coaching contracts.

It allows for schools or organizations to commit heavily to coaches but escape some of the financial liability for a buyout in the event that coach immediately turns around and lands another job. Rhule will certainly have no lack of suitors, you’d figure, following his strong stint as a college head coach at both Temple and Baylor.

Rhule finished his NFL stint with just an 11-27 overall record, including a 1-4 mark to open the 2022 season with the Panthers.

Matt Rhule fired, back to coaching in college?

Before Matt Rhule was fired at Carolina he was one of the hottest names in the coaching ranks. He took his first head coaching job at Temple in 2013, having spent 2006-11 with the Owls as a defensive line coach, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator, as well as tight ends coach and offensive coordinator.

Rhule went 2-10 in his first season at Temple, then 6-6, then led back-to-back 10-win campaigns in 2015 and 2016 prior to taking the Baylor job.

At Baylor he went 1-11 in his first season, then 7-6, followed by an 11-3 campaign with a Sugar Bowl appearance in 2019, earning him the Carolina job.

Needless to say, there will almost certainly be a college program out there keen on tapping into Rhule’s reputation for turning around programs this offseason.

And with the contract offset language in his contract, they might just be able to do it a little cheaper than they otherwise would have needed to.