LSU is considering firing fourth-year coach Brian Kelly, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, after a day of internal meetings and escalating tensions within the football complex.
Top LSU officials, including athletics director Scott Woodward, had ongoing discussions throughout Sunday about the direction of the program, multiple people told CBS Sports. While a final decision has not yet been made, the situation has clearly shifted from one centered on personnel changes to one centered on Kelly himself.
Louisiana governor Jeff Landry is reportedly involved in discussions.. Landry criticized the football program after Saturday's 49-25 loss to Texas A&M, tweeting that LSU needs to “rethink their actions in raising ticket prices for next year after tonight's show!”
Kelly, 64, arrived at the facility around 8:30-8:45 a.m. local time, intending to evaluate his staff and explore potential changes that would include parting ways with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, sources said. However, around midday, after a meeting with Woodward that reportedly did not go well, the conversation about Kelly's future began to change. Multiple staffers told CBS Sports that Kelly left the facility shortly thereafter and that most of his coaching staff believed his tenure at LSU may be coming to an end.
LSU's focus early in the day was whether Kelly could retool his staff and salvage a disappointing 5-3 season. By evening, the tone around the program had changed—and the question was whether Kelly would remain the one making those decisions.
If LSU ultimately moves forward and makes changes, Kelly's buyout would be one of the largest in history. college football story. His contract calls for a payout of approximately $53.8 million, which is second only to Jimbo Fisher's $76.8 million buyout of Texas A&M (Woodward hired Fisher at Texas A&M and was thus also responsible for that buyout amount). According to the terms of his contract, payments will be made monthly until 2031.
The potential move would mark a stunning fall for one of college football's highest-ranking personnel. Woodward, who brought Kelly to Baton Rouge in 2021 in a sensational move from Notre Dame, saw him as a stabilizing force that would get the Tigers back into contention for a national championship. Instead, LSU hovered around SEC relevance but didn't break through.
Kelly went 34-14 in four seasons at LSU but never led the Tigers to the College Football Playoff. Earlier this season, the Tigers reached No. 3 in the AP Top 25 before collapsing amid mounting pressure, culminating in a Week 9 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M as chants of “Fire Kelly” echoed through Tiger Stadium.
Several LSU employees anonymously expressed doubt Sunday that Kelly would survive the week, while others cautioned that no decision had yet been communicated.
For now, LSU management appears to be contemplating one of the most expensive decisions in college football, one that could change the shape of the sport's ongoing “buying bubble” in which losing coaches walk away with record paychecks. Complicating matters, LSU currently has interim president Matt Lee, who took over in July after William Tate IV left to become president of Rutgers. Lee is also LSU's vice president for agriculture.
