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Math is hard: LSU overpaid Brian Kelly on accident

By Cody Williams

Dec 3, 2022; Atlanta, GA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly walks off after their 50-30 loss against the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 3, 2022; Atlanta, GA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly walks off after their 50-30 loss against the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Brian Kelly enjoyed a fantastic first season as the LSU football head coach, but the Tigers were paying just a bit too much by accident. 

LSU football has to be over the moon with the first-year results of head coach Brian Kelly. Even though the team ended with an overall 10-4 record, they made it out of the SEC West to the SEC Championship Game, most notably with a win over Alabama. Given that Kelly has yet to have his claws fully dug into recruiting, that’s a huge positive.

The Tigers, however, didn’t mean to pay Kelly as much for as good work as they did in 2022.

A recent audit of the LSU finances revealed that the school had paid Kelly a combined extra $1 million over the second half of the year, per a Business Report report. Due to some accounting error, both Kelly personally and the head coach’s LLC were receiving paychecks beginning in May and all the way through December.

LSU football: Brian Kelly was accidentally overpaid in 2022

Ultimately, this appears to be no one’s fault as it was an error that will be corrected in the 2023 fiscal year. According to the report, Kelly and LSU have already worked out an adjusted payment schedule for the upcoming year to recoup the money from the mistake.

Even still, it’s truly hilarious given the amount of money flying around college football that one of the biggest programs in college football was overpaying its coach — a coach who signed a 10-year, $95 million contract last offseason — by $1 million in his first season. The optics of it are truly comical, especially with Kelly being involved given how he often finds his way into punchlines.

If Kelly builds off what he and the Tigers did in the 2022 season, though, I suspect that LSU football might try to get him some more money sooner than later, this time on purpose (and assumedly on the up-and-up).

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