The chances of LSU settling with Brian Kelly on a buyout number much more palatable to the school don’t appear to be very large.
According to the Advocate, Kelly is asking the school to pay his full buyout of $54 million but is “open to any additional offers” from the school regarding the number.
In a Nov. 5 letter sent to LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry and LSU Board of Supervisors member John Carmouche, attorneys representing Kelly said that the former head coach wants LSU to confirm in writing by 5 p.m. on Nov. 10 that the school will “fulfill its contractual obligation” to pay Kelly the “full liquidated damages.”
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If paid in full, Kelly’s buyout would be the second-biggest ever paid to a college football coach behind the $77 million that Texas A&M paid to Jimbo Fisher in 2023.
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A potential settlement regarding the buyout has been mentioned ever since Kelly was fired, but the school doesn’t have much leverage in this situation given that Kelly’s contract stipulates the amount the school owes him at the time of his firing. In this case, Kelly is contractually owed 90% of his remaining compensation on a 10-year contract he signed with the school ahead of the 2022 season.
Kelly was 34-15 in his time at LSU, but the Tigers never lost fewer than three games in any of his three-plus seasons. In 2025, LSU lost to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M before he was fired.
The buyout has been an especially sore point for Gov. Jeff Landry. He cited Kelly’s buyout along with Fisher’s buyout as the reason that former athletic director Scott Woodward would not be hiring the Tigers’ next coach. However, Fisher’s buyout was determined based on an extension he signed with Texas A&M after Woodward had left the Aggies to be LSU’s athletic director.
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LSU lost 20-9 on Saturday night to Alabama in interim coach Frank Wilson’s first game in charge. Ausberry, a longtime LSU athletic department employee, was elevated to the school’s permanent athletic director role this week after LSU hired Wade Rousse from McNeese State as its next president.
