Another powerful college football program whose high expectations have failed has decided to fire its coach and potentially hand out more than $50 million to get him gone.
LSU fired Brian Kelly midway through his fourth season after the Tigers, who harbored preseason ambitions of a deep run in the College Football Playoffs, fell to 5-3, according to multiple reports. The university has not confirmed the dismissal.
The firing has turned what seemed perhaps an outlier event (firing a head coach despite the pain of a massive termination) into a trend. Just two weeks after Penn State decided that reaching last season’s playoff semifinal, much less the impediment of a nearly $50 million buyout, wasn’t enough to keep it from firing coach James Franklin, LSU could be forced to pay around $54 million to fire Kelly.
If paid in full, it would be the second-largest purchase in college football history. However, the final payment could be much less. As with the terms of Franklin’s purchase at Penn State, what LSU owes Kelly can be reduced by the amount of any “football-related jobs” he earns in the future, according to The Advocate newspaper.
With the win over LSU, Texas A&M improved to 8-0 and showed exactly why wealthy schools, unhappy with their progress but facing the pain of costly acquisitions, may be willing to take on costs that might have been prohibitive in the past. Two years after they fired Jimbo Fisher and triggered a record $77 million buyout, the Aggies are among the best teams in college football under coach Mike Elko.
The loss to Texas A&M even prompted comments from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who posted Saturday night on X that he thought LSU and its Board of Supervisors “need to rethink their actions to raise ticket prices for next year after tonight’s performance.”
The job at LSU comes with unique pressure and, with it, an unusually short grace period, because Kelly’s three predecessors had won national championships. His impact hire in 2022, when LSU’s 10-year, $95 million contract took him away from Notre Dame after 12 seasons and a .739 winning percentage, was intended to keep LSU in the national title race. With the advent of the 12-team playoffs last year, the margin of error allowed in making the playoffs has never been greater.
However, Kelly, whose .725 winning percentage is third-best among all active coaches, finishes with a 34-14 record in Baton Rouge, including a pair of 10-win seasons. LSU missed the first 12-team playoff last season and looked like it was no longer on track after Saturday’s loss to Texas A&M. Having started 4-0 and moved up to third place in the Associated Press poll, Kelly’s team had lost three of its last four games, with all three losses coming against ranked teams.
