NCAAF News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Power Rankings

Potential buyout not enough to deter Oklahoma's interest in Zac Selmon

Originally posted on Mississippi State Bulldogs on SI
By Taylor Hodges | Last updated Jul 7, 2025 4:56 PM ET

It didn’t take very long for social media and message boards to begin speculating about the possibility of Mississippi State Director of Athletics Zac Selmon being a candidate for the soon-to-be vacant Oklahoma athletics director position.

In case you missed it, news broke Monday morning that Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione would be retiring during the next school year. As far as athletic directors goes, he’s one of the best ever and whoever ends up being his replacement will have some huge shoes to fill.

I’ll get to some of the reasons why Selmon is going to be an obvious candidate to replace Castiglione further down. But let’s begin with the most important factor in all of this: money.

Clarion Ledger reporter Sam Sklar posted a friendly reminder about the recent contract extension Selmon signed in February.

“His salary is $1.25 million annually and raises by $25k each year the contract his renewed. Selmon's buyout, if he were to leave for any SEC school, would be 75% of his remaining salary,” Sklar reported in a social media post.

Zac Selmon will be mentioned in the Oklahoma AD search because of his obvious connection. Remember, he signed a contract extension at #MississippiState in February through Jan. 31, 2029. His salary is $1.25 million annually and raises by $25k each year the contract his renewed.…
— Sam Sklar (@sklarsam_) July 7, 2025

It’s been 18 years since my last mathematics class, but I ran those numbers for us all. (Fun fact: The last math teacher I ever had was Delta State’s head baseball coach, and current athletic director, Mike Kinnison. That was the fall semester of 2007 and two months after he gave me the D-grade I had rightfully earned [he was a good teacher, I was a bad student], I was sitting in his baseball office talking about that year’s team for a story in a local newspaper.)

Based on the numbers, if Oklahoma was to buyout the remainder of Selmon’s contract, it would be nearly $4 million. That’s not including a previously reported yearly bonus of $100,000. Here’s how that math breaks down:

Does anybody really think Oklahoma can’t afford that?

So, while Selmon’s contract is an important factor, I don’t think it’ll be a big enough factor to prevent Oklahoma from calling. And why wouldn’t they?

Let’s just run down some of the major decisions and accomplishments Selmon has achieved in two-plus years in Starkville:

Hired Jeff Lebby, an offensive coordinator of some of college football’s best offenses of the last five years, as head football coach;
$8 million gift towards the newly launched State Excellence Fund, the Mississippi State Athletics fund of the future;
$2.5 million gift from the Golding family;
He was named to Sports Business Journal’s prestigious “Forty Under Forty” Class of 2023;
Signed women’s basketball coach Sam Purcell to an extension through the 2028-29 season and,
Hired O’Connor, who had won more than 900 games, 7 CWS appearances and a national championship at Virginia, as one of the nation’s highest-paid coaches.

There’s probably a ton of other accomplishments or reasons that could be listed, but you get the point: Selmon is a great athletic director.

Mississippi State fans have already gone through this experience once, but this move would be different. Selmon is an Oklahoma native and has spent nearly 10 years working in the Sooners’ athletic department.

If Selmon were to leave Starkville for Norman, it’d be like if John Cohen had left Auburn to come home to Mississippi State instead of the other way around.

Personally, I still don’t think Selmon will be the next Oklahoma athletic director. But as my last math teacher can attest to, I’ve been wrong before.