When Cal fired head coach Sonny Dykes earlier this week, the timing seemed a bit peculiar.
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According to Ryan Gorcey of Scout.com, the Cal Athletic Department attempted to build a case that Dykes should be fired for cause, which would eliminate any potential buyout the school owed him.
The school made the case that Dykes was interviewing for other coaching positions, including the Baylor opening and Dykes waited too long to hire a new defensive coordinator. Apparently when Dykes went to discuss defensive coordinator candidate with athletics director Mike Williams, he informed Dykes he was being fired.
However, the school couldn't find a legitimate reason to fire Dykes for cause, so the school now owes him a $5.88 million buyout.
For the next three years, Dykes is owed a base salary of $350,000, and a talent fee of $2,375,000 in 2017, $2,450,000 in 2018 and $2,525,000 in 2019. That's a total of $8.4 million, and Dykes is owed 70 percent of that total ($5.8 million) since he was fired without cause.
Cal has yet to find a replacement for Dykes.
(h/t California Golden Blogs)
