The LSU, Lane Kiffin Episode Exposes How College Football is Broken

Lane Kiffin’s Massive Deal

The Kiffin drama started with LSU paying a king’s ransom to pry him away from Ole Miss. The seven-year, $91 million contract makes him the second-highest-paid coach in college football, trailing only Georgia’s Kirby Smart at $13.28 million annually. That’s a massive jump from his $9 million annual salary at Ole Miss. The buyout structure is where things get interesting. If LSU fires Kiffin without cause, they owe him 80% of his remaining contract with no offset clause. That means even if Kiffin gets another job, LSU still pays the full 80%. It’s fully guaranteed money. Fire him after the 2026 season? That’s a $62.4 million buyout. How can they get themselves in a deal like this again? 

Here’s where it gets absurd. LSU is literally paying Kiffin for Ole Miss’s success in the College Football Playoff this year. He gets $150,000 if Ole Miss plays in the first round, $250,000 for a quarterfinal appearance, and up to $1 million if Ole Miss wins the national championship. LSU also paid Kiffin’s $3 million buyout to leave Ole Miss. Think about that for a second. LSU is paying their new coach bonuses for his old team’s playoff run while simultaneously paying his buyout to leave that team.

Now here come the incentives…

The performance incentives for LSU success are substantial. Kiffin can earn $750,000 for a College Football Playoff berth, $1 million for an SEC championship, and $3 million for a national championship. But here’s the real kicker: if Kiffin wins a national title at LSU, his salary automatically increases to make him the highest-paid coach in all of college football the following year. That’s an automatic escalator clause that could push his compensation into uncharted territory. LSU also committed $25-30 million annually for roster management through NIL and revenue sharing. That’s a significant increase from the approximately $18 million spent under Brian Kelly. The message is clear: LSU is going all-in on Kiffin, consequences be damned.

The Brian Kelly Disaster

Brian Kelly was fired by LSU in October 2025 after a humiliating 49-25 loss to Texas A&M. His record at LSU? 34-14 overall, but the Tigers never finished a season ranked higher than 18th. Not exactly championship material for a program that expects to compete for national titles. Kelly’s original contract was a 10-year, $95 million deal that LSU threw at him to lure him away from Notre Dame in 2021. When fired, his remaining obligation was $54 million, approximately 90% of his remaining salary. The payment structure? Monthly installments of roughly $800,000 through 2031. That’s a lot of money for a coach who’s no longer coaching your team.

LSU tried everything to avoid paying the full buyout. After firing Kelly, they attempted to negotiate a lower settlement, offering $25 million, then $30 million. Kelly rejected both. LSU then explored firing Kelly “for cause” to avoid paying the buyout entirely. Firing for cause typically applies if a coach commits a crime or fails to report wrongdoing, and it would nullify the buyout obligation entirely.

Kelly’s attorneys argued LSU had no legitimate grounds and had missed the window to fire him for cause. They also challenged LSU’s claims that Kelly had not been formally terminated and that then-athletic director Scott Woodward lacked the authority to fire him or negotiate his exit. Kelly filed a lawsuit on November 10, 2025, demanding LSU confirm he was fired “without cause.” He set a deadline, and if not met, vowed to pursue all available legal remedies.

The Outcome

LSU finally caved and sent Kelly a formal termination letter on November 26, 2025, confirming the “without cause” designation and triggering the full $54 million buyout. The lawsuit is expected to be dropped as a result of this agreement.

Kelly’s contract includes a “duty to mitigate” clause, requiring him to make “good-faith, reasonable and sustained efforts” to find new employment. If Kelly gets another coaching job, LSU would only owe him the difference between his new salary and the buyout terms. LSU expects Kelly to document his job search with interviews, offers, and other evidence. Translation: Kelly has to at least pretend to look for work, or LSU could reduce payments.

The political fallout has been significant. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry publicly criticized the Kelly contract and buyout, calling it fiscally irresponsible. The controversy led to changes in LSU’s athletic director and university president. When your coaching contract becomes a political issue that costs administrators their jobs, you know things have gone sideways.  In the Governor’s defense, this is an insane amount of money for a public university in a state that ranks near the bottom in education funding. Louisiana’s public schools struggle for resources while LSU throws around nine-figure sums for football coaches. The optics are terrible, and the financial reality is even worse.