Baumgartner Bill Puts Coaches on a Budget – Salary Cap Tied to Tuition, Restoring Sanity to College Athletics

October 27, 2025
Press Release

WASHINGTON- Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA-05) introduced H.R. 5812, the COACH Act—a targeted solution to soaring coaching compensation and buyouts across college athletics.

“Schools that publish contract data for their head coaches have amassed $1.7 billion in potential buyout liabilities,” said Congressman Baumgartner. “This season alone, colleges are on pace to pay over $169 million for coaches not to coach. This amount equals a full year of operating revenue at a top-tier Division I program—enough to rank as a top-13 athletics department by revenue. My bill puts an end to that. College sports are highly subsidized public goods, not a professional enterprise.”  

“Even in professional sports, cost controls exist: salary caps operate within narrow antitrust frameworks recognized by Congress and the courts.” Baumgartner continued, “The COACH Act is a simple guardrail to bring sanity back to the financial management of college sports—it creates a narrow, lawful path for schools to set reasonable limits on coaches' pay. It’s time for Congress to step in to restore sanity to college sports.”

What the bill does: 

  • Wisdom of a Bygone Era: In the 1990s, the NCAA tried cost-saving, competitive-balance limits on coaching pay, but courts struck them down—see Law v. NCAA (10th Cir. 1998), which permanently enjoined the ‘restricted-earnings coach’ cap. Since then, the arms race has only accelerated, and in roughly 40 states the highest-paid public employee is a college coach. 

  • The Mechanics: Amends Title IV of the Higher Education Act and provides a limited, targeted antitrust exemption so schools can collectively set a reasonable compensation ceiling for athletics department employees.

  • The Cap: As a condition of participating in federal student-aid programs, institutions agree to limit total compensation of any athletics department employee to 10× the institution’s tuition and required fees for a first-time, full-time undergraduate for the most recent year (as reported under §487(g) of the HEA).

  • No loopholes: “Total compensation” is defined broadly to include salary, bonuses, deferred compensation, severance/buyouts, in-kind support, housing/mortgage or debt relief, personal-services contracts, and other remuneration—from the university or any affiliated or controlled booster organization.

  • Why it matters: A single season’s buyout can mirror a full year of operating revenue at many programs and rival top-tier budgets. Instead of paying coaches not to coach, resources should be used to control costs, limit financial liabilities of federally subsidized programs, and preserve scholarships and Olympic sports.

  • By the Numbers: $1.7B in potential head-coach buyouts at schools that publish contract data – per USA Today tracking. This season’s “pay-not-to-coach” total ≈ Top-13 athletics department by revenue.

You can read the bill text here.