Northern Illinois

Here are the key details of the article Calhoun linked in the previous post:

"Termination clauses
If the university terminates Whitford without cause it would have to pay liquidated damages in the following amounts:

Between July 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022: $519,125
Between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023: $351,083
Between May 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024: Remaining base salary

In Whitford's previous contract, the university would've paid the base salary for the remainder of the unexpired term."

Whitford's base salary is $336,083 per year.

Therefor there are $168,042 reasons for waiting until May 1st of this year to fire Whitford. If you wait until next year and fire him on May 1, 2023, you only save another $15,000. If you wait until after May 1, 2023 you only pick-up $28,007 in "savings"  per month until the university is entirely off-the-hook on May 1, 2024.

I think you are forced to wait until May 1st of this year. If this is too late to get a decent replacement, that is where Darner comes in. Depending on his contract, he may even be under contract until May 1, 2023; although you probably want to give him a few more bucks for head coaching responsibilities.

This contract Whitford has, in my opinion, is set-up to dump him on May 1, 2022.