One of quite literally the biggest issues that came with firing Will Muschamp in November was the size of his buyout, and news came out last week it’s a more sizable one than initially thought.

A story by The State last week reported Muschamp’s addendum that would have reduced his annual salary increase and then his potential buyout was never put into place and because of that the number stayed north of $15 million.

Wednesday, Ray Tanner took some time in an appearance on 107.5 FM to address the buyout.

“That had nothing to do with his contract. What that had to do with, and you mentioned Thomas Brown, coach Muschamp wanted to keep him here and reduce his contract by 100,000 a year to keep Thomas Brown if Thomas stayed,” Tanner said. “Thomas ended up not staying so the addendum to the contract was not executed.”

Under the addendum, Muschamp’s salary would remain the same and not increase with that pay bump going instead to Brown, who was being courted by other teams to leave South Carolina.

Brown ultimately did leave, taking the running backs coach job with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, which meant that addition to Muschamp’s contract stayed the same instead of decreasing his annual pay.

Under his contract that’s still on the books, South Carolina would owe Muschamp 75 percent of his remaining salary, which is right around $15.3 million.

“The contract we’re referring to remains in existence. A lot of times coaches during the course of their careers have addendums added and things changed,” Tanner said. “Not always monetary but things added to a contract whether it’s a courtesy car, stipend or tickets. That was an addendum tied to Thomas Brown. Thomas didn’t stay. He went to the Rams so that wasn’t executed.”

The buyout is annualized, Tanner said, which meant it would continue to be paid out over the remaining life of the contract, which runs for four more years.

The two sides—Tanner and Muschamp—could opt to settle on a lump sum of money lower than the stipulated buyout, which would be a larger up-front cost but could save money in the long run.

Right now Tanner said those conversations are being started.

“Its’ for four more years and it’s annualized. We’re allowed to pay it like we normally do, which is monthly if we choose to do that,” Tanner said. “We are having some conversations and on going negotiations to potentially end it sooner than that.”