As college athletics departments began to confront the budgetary wreckage of COVID-19, it appeared that football coaches would be shouldering a fair share of the financial burden.
At Texas, athletics director Chris Del Conte announced that his department was laying off 35 employees and furloughing nearly a dozen more, but coach Tom Herman would be among those taking a voluntarily temporary salary reduction of roughly 15% of their pay. As North Carolina projected an eight-figure deficit in athletics, coach Mack Brown agreed to have his salary cut by 20%. And at Central Michigan, coach Jim McElwain agreed to give up 6% of his pay, which the school said was in line with other campus leaders.