Brian Kelly is asking that LSU pay his full $54 million buyout, according to a report on Sunday by The Advocate, as the standoff between the former Tigers head coach and the school drags on.
Kelly was fired on Oct. 26, but 2 weeks later there is still a lot to work out before the coach and the program can officially go their separate ways. The negotiations between the 64-year-old Kelly and LSU have been a point of contention the past few weeks since the firing, and they have reportedly reached another boiling point in the aftermath of Kelly’s firing during his 4th season as Tigers coach.
Per the Advocate’s report, attorneys for Brian Kelly are asking LSU for “written confirmation” by 5 p.m. on Monday that the school will “fulfill its contractual obligation” to pay Kelly the full amount of his buyout. Kelly’s attorneys wrote a letter to LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry as well as John Carmouche of the LSU Board of Supervisors that was dated Nov. 5.
Included in that letter was the following statement, per the Advocate: “Absent this written confirmation by that date, Coach Kelly will pursue all available legal remedies.”
The school owes Kelly that $54 million buyout if he was fired without cause, which his attorneys have claimed was the case. If Kelly was fired without cause, he would be owed 90% of his remaining yearly compensation.
According to the Advocate, the terms of Kelly’s contract requires that buyout be paid out monthly until paid in-full. Per the report, Kelly previously declined settlement offers from LSU.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
