Sonny Dykes XXX at Sun Devil Stadium on September 24, 2016 in Tempe, Arizona.

It has been pretty clear for a number of years now that Cal has some struggles running things in its athletics department. A recent decision to fire head football coach Sonny Dykes as late as they just did in the current coaching carousel season proves once again that the Cal leadership is not making things fiscally stable for themselves.

One of the biggest questions about the recent coaching change at Cal is why it took so long. If Cal was simply going to fire Dykes for football reasons, it could have done so a month ago and gotten involved in the coaching search at a more ideal time than it currently sits. The reason for the delay reportedly was due to administrators working to find reasons to fire Dykes for cause, which would remove any buyout fees needed to be paid by the school to Dykes. Unfortunately for the university, it will now be on the hook after not being able to successfully lobby for firing for cause.

The case Cal tried to sell was Dykes was straying from his commitment to the program by taking job interviews elsewhere and not filling his coaching staff by not adding a defensive coordinator. Unfortunately, that argument was not strong enough to make that case. Now, as calculated by California Golden Blogs, the school may have to pay Dykes up to $5.88 million in buyout money. Put that on top of whatever it will end up costing to land a new head coach, and this is one pricey coaching change for a university that has struggled with finances in recent years.

It is also very possible that buyout will be reduced at some point. Dykes is entitled to every penny of his buyout terms unless Cal can dig up enough dirt to make a solid case for firing him with cause, but it is also not uncommon for universities and former coaches to negotiate a lower buyout price tag. If Dykes takes a head coaching job elsewhere, that could also be good news for Cal, but nothing is guaranteed. If I was in the shoes of Dykes, I know I wouldn’t accept anything less than what was owed to me. Would you?

In the meantime, Cal is scrambling to find a head coach at one of the worst possible times on the calendar, just weeks away from signing day and with most of the college coaching carousel settled down (Western Michigan is the only other FBS program looking for a new head coach). More importantly, paying big money for a new coach will be an even tougher sell for Cal given the current financial state of the school and how much it now must pay Dykes. So, forget about Les Miles and Chip Kelly, for example (and neither one of those were going to be realistic options anyway, in seems).

[California Golden Blogs]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.