Former LSU football coach Brian Kelly rejected two financial settlement offers from the university, and his attorneys have given LSU officials a Monday deadline to confirm in writing that they'll pay him the $54 million he's owed under the terms of his contract.
Kelly, who was fired on Oct. 26, was in the fourth season of a 10-year, $95-million contract.
According to documents obtained by the Baton Rouge Advocate, former LSU athletic director Scott Woodward offered Kelly a lump-sum payment of $25 million on the day he was fired. Woodward also offered to remove the mitigation language in Kelly's contract, which would have reduced the buyout amount if he coached again.
LSU executive deputy athletic director Julie Cromer later increased the settlement offer to $30 million in two payments, according to the documents.
Kelly, who had a 34-14 record at LSU, rejected both offers, according to the report.
In a Nov. 5 letter to new LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry and Board of Supervisors member John Carmouche, Kelly's attorneys said they want university officials to confirm by 6 p.m. ET Monday that the school intends to "fulfill its contractual obligation" to pay Kelly the "full liquidated damages."
"Absent this written confirmation by that date, Coach Kelly will pursue all available legal remedies," the letter said.
Kelly's attorneys said in the letter that LSU officials previously confirmed that the coach was fired without cause, meaning he would be owed 90% of his remaining compensation.
If a lesser amount isn't negotiated, the university would owe Kelly $54 million in monthly payments through 2031, minus any future salary he receives in coaching.
Kelly's lawyers told LSU officials that the coach was still "open to additional offers" if the university provided written confirmation that it intends to pay the $54 million he's owed.
Woodward, who oversaw LSU's athletic department since 2019, stepped down from his position Oct. 30, a day after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry criticized him for giving Kelly such a one-sided contact. Landry also suggested that Woodward wouldn't select the Tigers' next football coach.
"We are not going down a failed path. And I want to tell you something: This is a pattern," Landry told reporters during a news conference at the state capitol on Oct. 29. "The guy that's here now that wrote that contract cost Texas A&M 70-some million dollars. Right now, we've got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again. And you know what? I believe that we're going to find a great coach."
Landry criticized Woodward for agreeing to a similar one-sided coaching contract when he was Texas A&M's athletic director. The Aggies owed football coach Jimbo Fisher more than $76 million when they fired him in November 2023, which was nearly triple the highest-known coaching contract buyout at a public school at the time.
However, it was Ross Bjork, who succeeded Woodward at Texas A&M in 2019, who gave Fisher a four-year extension just before the 2021 season that made his 10-year deal worth more than $90 million. Woodward originally gave Fisher a 10-year, $75 million contract when he was hired away from Florida State.
Ausberry, LSU's former deputy athletic director, was named interim AD and then promoted to replace Woodward on Nov. 4.
Frank Wilson is LSU's interim coach. The Tigers lost 20-9 at No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, dropping their record to 5-4.