If he is fired, Porter will have a right to his contractual buyout, even if that is the remainder owed under his contract. The only out a school ever has is if they have grounds to fire a coach for "cause", which is a term that is defined in these coaches contracts. Generally, "cause" is defined to means serious misconduct or specific lists of forbidden things. Never seen an OU basketball coach contract, but I when I was representing an athlete that had her scholarship pulled by an OU coach. We prevailed and got relief from OU for the coaches conduct, but were told the coach's conduct didn't amount to "cause" necessary to warrant job termination. But, we were told at the end of the contract, the matter would be taken into consideration on whether to renew. I'm just guessing, but would imagine all the coaches contracts are probably drafted about the same way.