Brian Kelly buyout controversy, explained: Why former LSU football coach is suing university originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The drama just won’t settle down in Baton Rouge. After LSU announced it fired head coach Brian Kelly on Oct. 26, the two sides are still negotiating how to handle the remainder of his contract and the school is reportedly seeking to fire him for cause.
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When Kelly was hired in Nov. 2021, he signed a 10-year, $95 million contract with LSU. But Kelly was dismissed in the middle of just his fourth season in Baton Rouge, which means there is still a hefty chunk of change owed on his deal.
On Monday night it was reported that Kelly’s lawyers had taken the position that the school had not “formally terminated” the coach and that LSU was now seeking to fire Kelly “for cause” to avoid paying the full $54 million buyout.
Although Kelly initially appeared open to a settlement, he has reportedly rejected two settlement offers by LSU. LSU has undergone significant turnover in the athletic department in recent weeks. Former LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, who hired Kelly, parted ways with the school shortly after Louisiana’s governor made public comments about Woodward not hiring Kelly’s replacement.
The school has since promoted interim athletic director Verge Ausberry as the new permanent AD, which wasn’t without its own controversy.
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Here’s everything you need to know about the buyout controversy between Kelly and LSU since his firing.
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Brian Kelly buyout controversy
Per USA Today, Kelly’s buyout for this season was $53,293,333, which puts LSU on the hook for quite a bit of cash. Initially, it appeared as though Kelly was open to accepting a settlement from the school.
On Nov. 5, WAFB-9 in Baton Rouge obtained an email that Kelly wrote to Woodward and other LSU athletics administrators, including Ausberry, that he was “open to your desire to reach a settlement of what’s owed to me under the contract, although of course it would have to make sense financially.”
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But on Nov. 9, The Advocate reported that Kelly is now demanding that the school pay his contract out in full. Kelly and his attorneys sent a letter to Ausberry and LSU’s Board of Supervisors member John Carmouche. The document asks for written confirmation by 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, that the school will “fulfill its contractual obligation” to pay the remainder of his contract in full. The letter adds that Kelly will “pursue all available legal remedies” if he does not receive confirmation.
The newspaper adds that the school offered Kelly lump-sum payments of $25 million and $30 million the day he was fired, but those were rejected by Kelly. The offer was made when Woodward was still LSU’s AD.
Per the terms of Kelly’s contract, his buyout sum is required to be paid in equal monthly installments through 2031, which is the end of his contract. Kelly’s attorneys claim that since LSU fired him without cause, he will be owed 90% of his remaining annual compensation under the terms of the deal.
Kelly was initially sacked on Oct. 26, one day after the Tigers’ 49-25 loss to Texas A&M. Public statements released after the game indicated his dismissal was performance-based. According to Kelly’s attorneys, the school then informed Kelly that then-athletic director Scott Woodward did not have the authority to decide on Kelly’s future. The school reportedly stated it had to fire Kelly “for cause”, which would impact his the terms of his buyout.
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On Nov. 21, LSU’s board of supervisors approved to terminate Kelly’s contract. According to ESPN, the board did not indicate whether the former Tigers coach was sacked with or without cause.
In a letter sent to the school on Nov. 18, Kelly’s attorneys claimed LSU’s actions have effectively “made it nearly impossible” for Kelly to land another coaching gig.
Kelly would be open to any additional settlement offers, as long as confirmation is received that the school will abide by the contract in firing him without cause.
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Brian Kelly contract buyout
Kelly’s buyout is nearly $54 million, which is one of the highest in the country. But we’ve seen hefty buyouts be paid in full before. Earlier this season, Penn State paid James Franklin nearly $50 million after firing him midseason, although the total sum could be offset by his future potential employer.
In Nov. 2023, Texas A&M paid Jimbo Fisher $77 million after his firing. Fisher was hired by Woodward in 2017. While Woodward did hire Fisher initially, it was former Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork who signed off on Fisher’s 2021 extension. That extension raised his annual salary to just over $9 million and extended him through 2030. That was a pay increase from his initial $7.5 million annual salary with the school.
So while Woodward obviously gets blamed for hiring Fisher at A&M initially, you can’t blame him entirely for how big his buyout was—even though Louisiana governor Jeff Landry did so last month.
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According to The Advocate, the school initially offered to pay Kelly a lump-sum payment instead of his full buyout. Via the newspaper:
During the Oct. 26 meeting, the letter said, Woodward said LSU wanted to enter negotiations to pay Kelly a lump-sum payment of $25 million instead of the full buyout. LSU offered “one or more accelerated payments,” documents said, plus the elimination of mitigation or offset language that would reduce the cost of the buyout if Kelly gets another job in football.
Later that day, documents said, Cromer raised the offer to $30 million over two installments with the removal of mitigation or offset clauses. Woodward said in a statement the night LSU fired Kelly they would “continue to negotiate his separation and will work toward a path that is better for both parties.”
LSU has not put Kelly’s termination in writing with negotiations ongoing, sources said, so it is continuing to pay his salary in monthly installments.
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Why did LSU fire Brian Kelly?
Kelly was fired by LSU after going 34-14 over four seasons. The firing came just hours after the Tigers’ 49-25 blowout home loss to Texas A&M. He led the Tigers a pair of 10-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, including a win over Alabama and Nick Saban during his first season.
According to Kelly’s lawyers, the coach was relieved of his head coaching duties after the loss to Texas A&M and told his dismissal was performance-related. But in a lawsuit filed Monday, Kelly’s representatives said that LSU AD Scott Woodward “didn’t have the authority to terminate Coach Kelly and/or make settlement offers to him” and thus he was never officially terminated from the position.
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Despite that supposed claim, Kelly did not coach against Alabama on Saturday.
The Tigers made it to just one SEC Championship game in Kelly’s four seasons, and never were all that close to making it into the College Football Playoff. In fact, Kelly was the first LSU coach to not win a national title or SEC Championship as a head coach within four years. His predecessors in Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron all did so in their first four seasons.
As for what’s next for Brian Kelly, he could find his next job at the likes of maybe Penn State, in the NFL, or in retirement.
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Why is Brian Kelly suing LSU?
Kelly and his lawyers are claiming LSU informed them on Monday that the school’s position is that it never officially terminated the coach and is now seeking to fire him for cause.
If LSU fires Kelly for cause, it could avoid paying all of the $54 million buyout his contract says he is owed.
The embattled coach is seeking “a declaratory judgment confirming that LSU’s termination of Coach Kelly is without cause and that Coach Kelly is entitled to receive the full liquidated damages provided for in (his contract),” the 48-page lawsuit states.
Kelly did not coach against Alabama on Saturday, but the lawsuit states LSU is claiming that then-athletic director Scott Woodward did not have the authority to make such a decision. Woodward was fired on Oct. 30, four days after Kelly’s ouster and one day after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said Woodward would not hire LSU’s next head football coach.
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Brian Kelly lawsuit
Kelly is suing LSU to ensure he receives his full $54 million buyout, taking the position that LSU has not formally terminated him.
While it isn’t clear what reason LSU reportedly believes it can fire Kelly for cause, the lawsuit signals the veteran coach is prepared to fight the school in court. The suit alleges that Woodward did not have the authority to fire Kelly nor make settlement offers to him, and thus, Kelly was never terminated, per ESPN.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, contests each of LSU’s “new positions” on Kelly’s firing.
“Coach Kelly’s representatives informed LSU that Coach Kelly disagreed with each of LSU’s new positions, including (i) the idea that he somehow had not been terminated, (ii) that the then-Athletics Director Woodward was not acting with authority (in a meeting attended by several LSU athletics officials, including the current Athletics Director Ausberry), and (iii) that there were any grounds for termination with cause (or that LSU could manufacture any such grounds after his termination), thus necessitating this action,” the lawsuit states.
