Two weeks after firing Brian Kelly, LSU is still in a standoff with its former football coach over the terms of his buyout.
Kelly’s contract — a 10-year, $95 million deal — calls for him to be paid 90% of his remaining salary for the life of his contract, which would put LSU on the hook for close to $54 million in the form of monthly payments to Kelly through 2031.
LSU wanted to negotiate a smaller payment to Kelly that would give the coach a significant payout up front, but save the program money in the long run. The benefit to Kelly would be getting the money in one lump sum and LSU would remove mitigation language for future earnings from coaching. However, those negotiations have not yielded a new agreement.
According to documents obtained by the Baton Rouge Advocate, Kelly’s lawyers sent a letter to new athletic director Verge Ausberry on Nov. 5 indicating his expectation that the school will pay his “full liquidated damages,” meaning the full $54 million buyout. Kelly showed a willingness to engage in such conversations immediately after his firing, but rejected offers of $25 million and $30 million that were presented to him — first by then-athletic director Scott Woodward and later by executive deputy athletic director Julie Cromer. Since Woodward’s firing after a fiery press conference from Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, talks have apparently stalled.
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The letter from Kelly’s attorneys did state that he was still “open to any additional offers,” but that he was pushing for a resolution by 5 p.m. on Nov. 10. If there was not a written confirmation of Kelly’s firing and the terms of that firing by that time, Kelly would “pursue all available legal remedies.”
That deadline imposed by Kelly arrived on Monday evening, and true to his word, he filed a lawsuit seeking judgement that LSU fired him without cause, which would mean he is owed the full $54 million. According to the lawsuit obtained by ESPN, Kelly claims LSU called him earlier on Monday and said he had never been formally terminated and that the school was instead looking into firing him for cause.
As for how LSU is arguing this when Kelly was very publicly fired and did not coach last week at Alabama, the school is apparently claiming former athletic director Scott Woodward did not have “the authority to terminate Coach Kelly and/or make settlement offers to him.” Woodward was fired days after Kelly.
The LSU board received the lawsuit on Monday evening and have handed it over to the Louisiana Attorney General, CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello reports.
Kelly’s lawsuit argues against all of LSU’s positions and seeks legal judgement on the matter to enforce LSU’s contractual obligations for firing him without cause.
“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 continues an incredibly messy divorce that has thrown the LSU athletics department into chaos and turned one of the most coveted jobs in the country into one where other coaches will wonder what headaches could lie ahead for them. LSU attempting to claim the former AD didn’t have the authority to fire Kelly and trying to retroactively fire him for cause won’t exactly quiet those concerns.
Kelly was in his fourth season at LSU when he was fired on Oct. 26. Kelly had a 34-14 record coaching the Tigers, but never reached the College Football Playoff and was let go on the heels of an embarrassing 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M — a game where LSU was outscored 35-7 in the second half.
WIth Frank Wilson serving as interim coach, LSU fell to 5-4 with a 20-9 road loss to Alabama on Saturday. The Tigers will host Arkansas this weekend.