LSU is set to part ways with Brian Kelly after a 5-3 start to the 2025 season, per multiple reports.
Here is the breakdown of what LSU will have to pay with Brian Kelly reportedly out as head coach in Baton Rouge.
Brian Kelly buyout details
Kelly’s buyout at the school would cost LSU $53.3 million, with Kelly’s buyout being the 8th-most expensive for a college football coach. The numbers on Kelly’s buyout are according to the USA Today coach’s salary database.
According to the terms of Kelly’s deal, he will be owed 90% of his remaining salary if he is fired without cause. Kelly signed an initial 10-year contract with LSU that ran through the end of the 2031 season.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news on Sunday night that LSU intends to fire Kelly, meaning it would be on the hook for these buyout details. The Tigers dropped to 5-3 overall and just 2-3 in the SEC after Saturday night’s embarrassing loss to Texas A&M in front of their home fans at Death Valley.
Kelly has been at LSU since 2022 after leaving Notre Dame to take the high-profile SEC job. His goals were to win a national title at LSU, but apparently that pursuit has ended with Sunday night’s reported firing, and now LSU will hash out the details of the buyout numbers above.
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.
