LSU athletics has spent nearly $200 million on coaching changes to hire Lane Kiffin, Will Wade
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The LSU Tigers’ athletic department has seen a lot of turnover over the past 6 months, with both the football and men’s basketball program’s making changes at the head coaching position.
The firing of former head football coach and subsequent hire of Lane Kiffin has been well documented and ran up quite the tab for the boosters down in Baton Rouge, and the recent change in the hoops’ department has only added to that tally.
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ESPN insider Pete Thamel sat down on Thursday night following the Will Wade hiring announcement to tally up the exact number the Tigers have spent across both moves, and he estimates that the figure is approaching the $200 million mark.
Per Thamel’s calculations, LSU spent around $148 million to make the switch from Brian Kelly to Kiffin after paying Kelly’s record-breaking $54 million buyout, $3 million to buy out Kiffin’s remaining contract at Ole Miss and following that up by giving him a new $91 million deal.
The firing of Matt McMahon and buyout of Will Wade’s deal at NC State will add between $3-5.3 million to that, and Thamel estimates that Wade’s new deal at around $30 million to bring the grand total to $190 million all in.
It’s a steep amount no doubt, but LSU’s administration has made it clear that championships are the expectation, and they believe that these deals will get them there.
