LSU football will still land elite coach to replace Brian Kelly, politics be damned

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LSU football will still land elite coach to replace Brian Kelly, politics be damned

LSU football will still land elite coach to replace Brian Kelly, politics be damned

Matt Hayes, USA TODAY · USA TODAY Sports

Wed, Nov 12, 2025 ·

5 min read

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Let me get this straight. Now — now? — we're all in a tizzy over the unhinged way of business in the state of Louisiana ?

Now this is the last straw, the last time Louisiana can publicly bicker and bargain and not possibly look worse — and not pay for it?

Now this latest tête à tête with Louisiana's first love (politics) and only love ( LSU ) is going to prevent the Tigers from landing a home run coaching hire for its beloved football team?

Come on, people. This is just another day in Louisiana.

While I'm the first to say never discount dumb, even the living, breathing circus of the absurd can't screw up this coaching hire. It's a top three job in college football, and they'll pay anything to make it work.

It's just the process that's a little funky.

Cal fired Justin Wilcox on Nov. 23 with one game left in the regular season. The Golden Bears are 6-5 this season but 48-55 in Wilcox's seven seasons in charge.
(Brian Bishop-Imagn Images)

Auburn fired coach Hugh Freeze on Nov. 2 following a home loss to Kentucky. Freeze was 15-19 in two-plus seasons on the Plains.
(John Reed, John Reed-Imagn Images)

LSU fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26 after an embarrassing home loss to Texas A&M the night before.
(Tyler Kaufman, Getty Images)

Florida fired Billy Napier on Oct. 19 during his fourth season as Gators coach. UF was 22-23 during Napier's tenure.
(Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images)

Penn State fired James Franklin on Oct. 12 after a third straight loss. The Nittany Lions were 104-45 in 11-plus seasons under Franklin.
(Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images)

UAB fired Trent Dilfer on Oct. 12 after a 2-4 start to the 2025 season. Dilfer was in his third season as head coach of the Blazers.
(Randy Sartin, Imagn Images)

Sam Pittman was fired by Arkansas on Sept. 25, a day after the Razorbacks were blown out by Notre Dame, 56-13. Pittman was 32-34 in his five-plus seasons as Hogs coach.
(Nelson Chenault, Imagn Images)

Virginia Tech fired Brent Pry on Sept. 14 after the Hokies started the season 0-3. Virginia Tech was 16-24 overall in Pry's three-plus seasons.
(Brian Bishop-Imagn Images)

UCLA fired DeShaun Foster on Sept. 14 after the Bruins fell to 0-3 following a home loss to New Mexico. The Bruins were 5-10 in Foster's one-plus season in charge.
(Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images)

Mike Gundy was in his 21st season as Oklahoma State coach when he was fired on Sept. 23. Gundy was 170-90 as Cowboys coach, but started 1-2 this season after going 3-9 in 2024.
(William Purnell, Imagn Images)

Oregon State fired Trent Bray on Oct. 12 after the Beavers started the season 0-7. The Beavers were 5-14 in Bray's season-plus in Corvallis.
(Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images)

Colorado State fired football coach Jay Norvell on Oct. 19. Norvell was 18-26 in his four seasons in Fort Collins.
(Logan Newell/The Coloradoan)

Stanford coach Troy Taylor was fired prior to the 2025 season following allegations of mistreating staff. He was 6-18 in two seasons with the Cardinal and was replaced by interim coach Frank Reich.

(Eakin Howard-Imagn Images)

Kent State coach fired coach Kenni Burns on April 15 after he posted a 1-23 record of and was placed on administrative leave by the school in March. Mark Carney is serving as interim coach.
(Matthew O'Haren, Imagn Images)

They feed off this stuff in Louisiana. It's their DNA, the fabric of who and what they are and how they've lived and loved and argued since Jefferson fleeced the French for The Purchase 222 years ago, thank you.

You don't really think firing LSU coach Bran Kelly midway through his fourth season, and then reneging on paying him a whopping $53 million payout (you say negotiate, I say renege) is going to stop this train, do you?

Why would any coach — much less, Lane Kiffin , the biggest chess piece on the coaching carousel board — agree to take the LSU job when the university and the state (they're one in the same, just ask The Gov ) have made it clear they don't like those nasty legal hurdles called binding contracts?

In fact, not only do they not adhere to those contracts, they'll try to pull backroom shenanigans (see: Louisiana politics) and threaten to fire Kelly for cause — and not pay him a penny — after he told them to go scratch with their "negotiations."

Now what began as a bunch bumbling fools who couldn't get their stories straight, has since evolved into taking care of business, the Louisiana way. Again, you and I (and, you know, the courts ) may not like it — but that's how it's done in Louisiana.

Quite frankly, you get what you get.

When you hire an outsider to come coach your beloved football team, and the first thing he does is talk about winning all of his games and introduces himself like your long, lost cousin from south of Interstate 10, what do you expect?

B1G capital equity deal: Big Ten is letting the wolf in the door and selling its soul. For what?

Postseason push: SEC once wanted its own playoff, and now it's here. Like it or not

Brian Kelly is a terrific coach. Brian Kelly was also a bad fit, and it's OK for two things to be true at the same time.

So you end up with disappointing results, and Kelly not even reaching the halfway mark of an exorbitant 10-year, guaranteed deal. Or as they say south of 10, boo-coo bucks.

LSU then tries to mitigate by giving Kelly a lump sum payment in lieu of clawing back money from the buyout should Kelly get another job. Say Kelly takes the Penn State job, that means Penn State would only have to pay him $5 million a year because LSU is still on the hook for another $4 million and change to make Kelly whole from his original deal.

In other words, by offering Kelly a lump sum payout less than the total owed, LSU is allowing Kelly to double dip and earn from two schools. Sign a full deal wherever he coaches next, and have $30 million in his pocket for doing nothing but beating Alabama and losing to Billy Napier.

You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours, right podnuh ?

Well that's not how it's going to work in Kelly's world, and if LSU doesn't have damning NCAA or personal failings to use as firing for cause, they'll owe Kelly every dime of the $53 million . And they'll be able to pay it.

That's why LSU can still hire a coach for one of the top three jobs in college football: Money is no object if winning is the common denominator. As valuable: If you're a coach with an ego (see: 99.9% of all coaches), you see three coaches have won a national title at LSU since 2003.

7 years: Tyson Helton has been head coach at Western Kentucky since 2019 with a 55-34 record (.618) and six bowl appearances.
(Helen Comer/The Daily News Journal)

7 years: Chris Klieman has been head coach at Kansas State since 2019 with a 52-33 record (.612) and five bowl appearances.
(Patrick Mulligan, Getty Images)

7 years: Mike Locksley has been head coach at Maryland since 2019 with a 36-40 record (.474), not including his 1-5 stint as interim coach in 2015. He's lead the Terrapins to three bowl games.
(Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images)

8 years: Ryan Day has been head coach at Ohio State since 2018 with a 78-10 record (.886), six postseason berths, including the 2024 national championship.
(Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch)

9 years: Justin Wilcox has been head coach at Cal since 2017 with a 47-54 record (.465) and four bowl appearances.
(D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images)

9 years: P.J. Fleck has been head coach at Minnesota since 2017 with a 64-42 record (.604) and a 6-0 record in bowl games with the Gophers.
(Matt Krohn-Imagn Images)

10 years: Kelani Sitake has been head coach at BYU since 2016 with an 80-43 record (.650) and seven bowl appearances.
(Christian Petersen, Getty Images)

10 years: Kirby Smart has been head coach at Georgia since 2016 with a 112-20 record (.848), 10 postseason appearances and back-to-back national championships (2021-22).
(Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union)

10 years: Matt Campbell has been head coach at Iowa State since 2016 with a 69-55 record (.556) and seven bowl appearances.
(David Purdy, Getty Images)

10 years: Jason Candle has been head coach at Toledo since 2016 (he coached the 2015 Boca Raton Bowl) with a 77-44 record (.636) and seven bowl appearances (excluding the 2015 game as interim).
(Jordan Prather, Jordan Prather-Imagn Images)

11 years: Pat Narduzzi has been head coach at Pitt since 2015 with a 79-58 record and seven bowl appearances.
(James Gilbert, Getty Images)

12 years: Jeff Monken has been head coach at Army since 2014 with an 86-61 record (.585) with six bowl appearances.
(Danny Wild-Imagn Images)

12 years: Chris Creighton has been head coach at Eastern Michigan since 2014 with a 59-82 record (.418) and six bowl appearances.
(Jordan Prather-Imagn Images)

12 years: Chuck Martin has been head coach at Miami (Ohio) since 2014 with a 70-71 record (.496) and six bowl appearances.
(Chris Coduto, Getty Images)

13 years: Dave Doeren has been NC State head coach since 2013 with a 115-73 record (.612) and nine bowl appearances.
(Michael Caterina-Imagn Images)

13 years: Mark Stoops has been head coach at Kentucky since 2013 with an 80-78 record (.506) and eight bowl appearances.
(Jordan Prather-Imagn Images)

18 years: Dabo Swinney has been Clemson head coach since 2008 with a 183-52 record (.779), 17 postseason appearances, including 2016 and 2018 national championships.
(Ken Ruinard / Greenville News)

19 years: Troy Calhoun has been Air Force head coach since 2007 with a 137-95 record (.591) with 13 bowl appearances.
(Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images)

22 years: Kyle Whittingham has been Utah's head coach since 2004 and has a 174-88 record (.664) with 17 bowl appearances.
(Ben Queen-Imagn Images)

27 years: Kirk Ferentz has been Iowa's head coach since 1999 with a 210-126 record (.625) and 22 bowl appearances.
(Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

One is Nick Saban, the greatest to ever do it. The other two are Les Miles and Ed Orgeron, and well, they're not the greatest to ever do it.

And if you're going to pay a coach $53 million to not coach, you'll surely make the hottest coach in the hiring cycle the highest-paid coach in college football. Because that's what it's going to take to get Kiffin, who could easily decide to stay at Ole Miss .

Unless, that is, athletic director Verge Ausberry — and any number of others with their hands in the pie — offer Kiffin $14 million annually and force him to say no to an elite program with every possible advantage.

Why would Kiffin leave Ole Miss ? The same reason Marcus Freeman would leave Notre Dame and Lincoln Riley would leave USC, and Dan Lanning just might leave Oregon .

Because there's nothing like LSU football in all of the sport. It's rare and real, and if the only flaw is too much love and passion and a healthy portion of meddling — basically, the same recipe at every blue-blood program — you don't really have a flaw at all.

Know how to keep The Gov in the statehouse, and change the way they do football business in Louisiana? Win games.

The same way you keep fannies in the stands, and everyone happy in that beautiful melting pot of The Boot.

Then if The Gov shows his face again, you've got a guaranteed deal to back it up. Because if LSU thinks it's going to get any of the sport's elite without a fully-guaranteed contract, they'll end up with Tulane's John Sumrall.

Hey, at least he knows the lay of the land.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LSU coaching search is a mess, but Tigers will still hire a big name

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LSU football will still land elite coach to replace Brian Kelly, politics be damned

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