Former LSU Coach Brian Kelly Sues School Over $54M Buyout

Former LSU football coach Brian Kelly is suing the university for the nearly $54 million buyout he believes he is entitled to after the school allegedly fired him without cause on October 26.

The university claims Kelly, 64, was not formally terminated, and that it has cause to fire him, according to a petition for declaratory judgment, obtained by ESPN on Tuesday, November 10. If that is the case, the university would not owe Kelly the aforementioned buyout.

Kelly is seeking “a declaratory judgment confirming that LSU’s termination of [him] is without cause and that [he] is entitled to receive the full liquidated damages provided for in (his contract).”

LSU is arguing that then-athletic director Scott Woodward did not have the authority to terminate Kelly’s contract or negotiate terms, therefore he was never officially fired without cause.

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The university, which fired Woodward four days after letting Kelly go, has not specified on what grounds it is trying to fire Kelly for cause. Examples laid out in his contract, obtained by Us Weekly, include NCAA violations, felony conviction or “serious misconduct.”

“Coach Kelly’s representatives informed LSU that Coach Kelly disagreed with each of LSU’s new positions,” the filing reads, “including (i) the idea that he somehow had not been terminated, (ii) that the then-Athletics Director Woodward was not acting with authority (in a meeting attended by several LSU athletics officials, including the current Athletics Director Ausberry), and (iii) that there were any grounds for termination with cause (or that LSU could manufacture any such grounds after his termination), thus necessitating this action.”

Kelly’s contract states that if he is fired without cause, he is entitled to 90 percent of his base pay and all supplemental compensation remaining on his deal. The current contract runs through 2031.

LSU relieved the veteran head coach of his duties after the Tigers lost 49-25 to Texas A&M, dropping their record to 5-3 on the season. LSU has since also lost at Alabama under interim head coach Frank Wilson.

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Kelly was in his fourth season as LSU head coach, having led the Tigers to three consecutive bowl wins and a berth in the 2022 SEC championship game.

“We had high hopes that [Kelly] would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said in a release at the time, announcing a “leadership change” in the football program. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize.”

The week after Kelly’s alleged firing, The Athletic spoke to some of his former players and staffers, who accused him of not being invested in the program in a way befitting a head coach who was under a 10-year, $95 million contract.

“You gotta come a different way with your players,” former Tigers player Charles Turner told the outlet in a story published October 31. “You have to let your players know that you really got ’em.”

“The effort just is not there,” one staffer said, “especially for what this place is and compared to what we’re competing against. We always had to recruit around him.”