Jeff Goodman was given a story by a reliable source. For it to be a lie from him, he'd have to know it was a lie.
Think about this. You have made decision you know your customer/fan base will hate, but it's been made. You'd need cover. A $16-18M buyout story will stop all other questions in their footsteps. People will ring their hands at the stupidity of making such a contract, but that's the end of it.
Without a perfect excuse, the only questions the new AD and everyone around Wake would be asking is "why haven't you fired Danny yet?" After every loss, you'd be asked, "why isn't he gone?"
Why not use a perfect and impossible to know excuse?