“You can’t look at the short term.”

That’s our old buddy, Damon Evans, defending Maryland’s obligation to pay Randy Edsall a $2.6 million buyout after the school fired him.

It’s not like Maryland’s anything special in that department.

… Severance pay is the top-rising expense for athletic departments at some of America’s largest public universities, according to a Washington Post review of thousands of pages of financial records from schools in the five wealthiest conferences in college sports.

In a decade, the total annual amount spent on severance by athletic departments at 48 public universities in the “Power Five” conferences increased from $12.9 million combined in 2004, adjusted for inflation, to $28.5 million in 2014. That 120 percent jump outpaced rises on larger athletic budget items such as facilities spending (89 percent), coaches pay (85 percent) and administrative-staff pay (69 percent).

Jesus.  If you’d like to see a more graphic picture of the worst offenders, here you go.

Costly exercise

For athletic departments in the wealthy Power Five conferences that still finish the year with deficits, severance is often a factor. These 10 schools paid the most to former employees in 2014.

SCHOOL	SEVERANCE	2014 PROFIT/DEFICIT
Auburn	$4,846,662	-$17,139,398
Oregon State	$4,143,888	-$16,015,415
Minnesota	$3,306,483	-$1,542,547
Illinois	$3,203,870	-$6,191,154
California	$2,403,280	-$4,828,054
Wash. State	$1,840,033	-$18,296,057
Kentucky	$1,436,204	$1,211,510
Indiana	$1,301,146	$4,282,047
Florida	$1,293,655	$10,612,847
Penn State	$1,265,927	$150,351

War damn eagle!

Remind me again why these guys think they’re smart.