Brian Kelly Reportedly Gets LSU's Formal Termination Letter, Latest on Contract Buyout

Brian Kelly will reportedly receive his contract buyout from LSU.

ESPN's Pete Thamel and Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported Wednesday that LSU informed its former head coach in writing that he was officially terminated "without cause." As a result, the SEC school owes him the buyout of approximately $54 million over the course of six years.

However, the letter Kelly received also explains he is obligated to make "good-faith, reasonable and sustained efforts to obtain" jobs that could mitigate the buyout. He also has to "maintain reasonable documentation of" the job search.

It was first reported in late October that LSU fired Kelly following a 5-3 start to the season.

Yet it took nearly a full month to reach this point after something of a back-and-forth regarding whether he would be fired for cause.

Morgan Moriarty of Sporting News summarized the "drama" surrounding the negotiations. Kelly's lawyers said the school never "formally terminated" the coach because it was looking to fire him for cause to avoid the significant payout.

Moriarty noted Kelly rejected two different settlement offers from the Tigers.

Kelly never lived up to the sky-high expectations that were in place after he was hired. He went 10-4 in his first season in 2022 and 10-3 in 2023 but failed to reach the double-digit win total in 2024 on the way to a 9-4 mark.

The Tigers entered the 2025 season with national championship aspirations, which certainly didn't go away following a road win over Clemson to open the campaign. However, they started 2-3 in SEC play thanks to losses to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.

Suddenly, the national title hopes were gone and Kelly was without a job.

LSU hasn't exactly turned things around since the firing, as it lost to Alabama and defeated Arkansas and Western Kentucky by a combined four points. Arkansas and Western Kentucky should have been overmatched opponents, but the Tigers struggled to pull away.

With the Kelly situation now officially decided, attention turns toward who the next head coach will be at LSU.

The program has been consistently connected to Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin, who is expected to make a decision about his future following Saturday's game against rival Mississippi State.