I would imagine that any Year 1 reduction due to getting a new job is permanent. That means, if you have 5 years of a buyout at 3 million per year, and then you take the OC job in Year 1 for 1.6 million, your buyout goes down to 1.4 million and stays there. So if you lose the OC job after Y1, you don't get your full 3 million buyout again in Year 2, since you were the one who lost the second job on your own, having nothing to do with the first employer. That's why guys keep a low profile until the end of the buyout, unless you get a great HC job somewhere else that exceeds the first job, on a guaranteed basis (Richt from UGa to UM).