With James Franklin and Brian Kelly not only fired by their respective schools this season but also receiving monster buyouts to not coach, one congressman has decided to seize on the headlines. In the process, he's introduced a bill that would place a salary cap on coach pay that would essentially cripple the Nebraska football program.
The Correcting Opportunity and Accountability in Collegiate Hiring (COACH) Act, introduced Monday by Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.), would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cap the total annual compensation of any athletics department employee at no more than 10 times the institution's yearly costs for a full-time undergraduate student.
One data analyst, Greg Chick, took a pass at figuring out how this salary cap would affect almost all the schools on the FBS level. Under his calculations, Nebraska's cap wouldn't be dead last in the country, but it would be well below the top level.
COACH Act would cap Nebraska football salaries based on tuition costs
A federal bill has been introduced that would cap college coach compensation at 10X the cost of a school’s tuition/fees.
— Mit Winter (@WinterSportsLaw) October 28, 2025
The chart below shows what the max salary would be at each FBS school.
If you’re not ok with capping coach pay you shouldn’t be ok with capping athlete pay. https://t.co/fBjepXI1PR
Chick's calculations would put the Huskers at about $277,000 per year. Keep in mind that's around what a low-level position coach at Nebraska makes now. Head coach Matt Rhule earns upwards of $7.5 million this year alone and will get a $1 million raise in January.
Inbox: Rep. Michael Baumgartner has introduced a bill that would provide a limited antitrust exemption to cap college football coaching salaries. pic.twitter.com/VRxHOy7fAE
— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) October 27, 2025
Under this new structure, USC would be able to pay its head coach the most, about $400K more than the Cornhuskers. Other schools that would suddenly be able to easily lap NU in paying their coaches? Rice, Tulsa, Temple, and Hawaii, among many others.
Of course, a couple of hundred thousand dollars' difference in pay isn't the real issue. A coach is unlikely to go to the Golden Hurricanes instead of the Huskers for an extra $300,000 per year (though it would be a factor for other big-name schools if these guys can't be millionaires anymore.
Nebraska's athletic department is one of the only self-sufficient programs in the country. Being able to dish out massive contracts is what allows them to compete with the Ohio States, Penn States, and Floridas.
While fans might be frustrated with how high these bidding wars go when a coach is on the move, Husker fans would be far more frustrated about not keeping a coach or luring one in that's among the best in the business.
Nebraska is far from the only program that this short-sighted coach salary cap bill would badly hurt. There are plenty of people around the country who should be rooting hard for it never to pass. But the Huskers would be among the top Power 4 programs to be crippled by it.