There was friction from the start of those contract talks. Relations between Davis and Miami athletic director Paul Dee had become strained in the previous six months, in part over Davis's concern that at $850,000 a year he was underpaid. "Butch listens to what other coaches tell him they're making, and he believes them," Dee told SI in early November. Shortly after that, Davis hired Demoff. Their first request was for a six-year extension. Dee refused, offering five. "That was the first red flag," says Davis.
Negotiations plodded forward through the Sugar Bowl. On Jan. 5 both parties agreed to a base compensation of $8.5 million over five years, plus some incentive bonuses--all of which would have put Davis among the three highest-paid college football coaches in the nation. Two issues remained unresolved: the buyout if Davis took another job, and the guaranteed compensation if Davis was fired. Miami wanted Davis to pay a $2.5 million buyout if he left after the first year, and the school would pay him $5 million (of the remaining $6.8 million) if he was fired following the first season. (The buyout would decrease by $500,000 and the compensation by $1 million in each succeeding year.) Davis and Demoff found both clauses unacceptable.
Large buyout riders are not uncommon for sought-after college coaches, although $2.5 million would have been extraordinary. When Dennis Franchione left TCU for Alabama in December, he was charged a $1 million buyout and has a $1 million buyout in his Alabama contract. Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer has an $850,000 buyout. Dee defends Miami's demand for a stiff buyout clause by saying, "If we were going to make the investment that we were prepared to make, we expected reciprocity."
The parties exchanged offers in the days that followed. On Jan. 24, 13 days after Cleveland dismissed Chris Palmer as coach and put Davis on its short list, Miami offered to fully guarantee Davis's contract in the event that he was fired, and reduced the buyout to 20% of his remaining salary at the time of departure, approximately $1.37 million after the first year. (It galled Davis that he might have to work for $1.7 million and then pay back nearly that much to leave, a scenario that he compared to working a year for nothing.) Demoff offered four scenarios to Miami, including a 100-10 deal, in which Davis would have a 100% guaranteed contract and owe 10% of his remaining salary as buyout, roughly $680,000 after the first year. Miami's counter, on Jan. 27, was to drop the guarantee on the contract to 90% and reduce the buyout from 20% to 15%, which would have been $1.02 million after the first year.
At that point Demoff felt Miami was no longer bargaining in good faith. He recommended that Davis stop negotiating with Miami and told the coach that there was still a small window in which to work with the Browns, who had courted Davis 11 days earlier and been rebuffed. Scarcely 24 hours later Davis was Cleveland's
coach.
