The annuity is a one-time thing so consider it to be $300k per year of service for which OU likely (only) invested only $172k per year assuming a 10% ROI. If Bob Stoops leaves 1 day before the service requirement, OU still has a good investment they roll into something else. If he stays, they will have paid $1.7 million to get some eye-popping press coverage and fill up the page of this forum.

Annuities are good ways to induce/reward retention. They reflect vision and planning, budgetary discipline and common sense.

If you want to reward the master architect of OU's renaissance, send your checks to David Boren - he is beyond every good decision (and relatively few bad decisions) for over 10 years at OU. If you think that athletics are not important to academics, review Notre Dame's endowment growth in years of football success, mediocrity and, most recently, failure. Athletics put universities on TV virtually every week, always locally, frequently regionally and often nationally. Calculate the advertising exposure of a BCS bowl berth at 75% pre-game hype and 25% post-game reporting: the Fiesta Bowl losses hurt at home but for six weeks it was all good news - and the bad news faded within 6 days.