Paul Finebaum says LSU’s Brian Kelly should not be on the hot seat in 2025
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Is it fair to put Brian Kelly on the hot seat heading into the 2025 season?
Paul Finebaum understands the reason for doing it; he just doesn’t agree.
Finebaum made the rounds on ESPN’s slew of sports talk shows on Friday. During an appearance on First Take, he was asked about the future for the LSU head coach. Kelly has a 29-11 record in 3 seasons at LSU and he is 3-0 in bowl games, but the Tigers are 0-3 in season-openers under Kelly and haven’t come close to the College Football Playoff yet under his stewardship. In 2025, the Tigers have gone all in to make a run not just at the Playoff, but at a national championship. And in doing so, the pressure has turned up on Kelly to deliver.
Should LSU falter, some have wondered if LSU would actually move on from a coach who has averaged 10 wins a season through his first 3 years.
“I understand why it’s being done because when he was hired a couple years ago from Notre Dame, he was the first coach in forever to leave Notre Dame voluntarily. [Winning titles] was the expectation. But I think you have to look closer at what Brian Kelly has done and what he hasn’t done,” Finebaum said Friday. “He did beat Nick Saban and he got to the SEC Championship Game under Jayden Daniels. He’s underperformed a bit since then, but the most important thing in college football is your roster and he now has an outstanding roster. He told me a few weeks ago it’s the best roster he’s had since he was at Notre Dame. And he also is recruiting at an elite level. … That matters.
“I’m sure there will be some pushback here. I understand that. I’ve been on the other side of these issues before. But I do not believe Brian Kelly, at this point, should be on the hot seat.”
Of course, any discussion about whether a big-brand school should move on from a big-name coach requires an accounting of the cost to do so. Moving off Kelly would not be cheap.
LSU just got done paying out the remainder of Ed Orgeron’s buyout last December. If the school were to fire Kelly without cause, he’d be owed 90% of what remains on his contract in base salary, supplemental compensation, and longevity compensation. That buyout would be paid out in installments over the remainder of his contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2031.
When Kelly signed with the school in November 2021, he agreed to a 10-year, $95 million deal. With retention bonuses and performance-based bonuses factored in — Kelly gets $500,000 for each bowl appearance — the total value of the deal climbs over $100 million. According to the USA Today coach salary database, he made $9.975 million last season (eighth among FBS coaches). If LSU decided to fire him before the end of this year, Kelly would be owed more than $50 million. Last year, only 8 coaches in the sport had a buyout greater than $50 million.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
