What is Brian Kelly’s buyout?

For the third straight season in a row, Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers have fallen in their first game of the season. This recent trend has put LSU out of the playoffs and made it difficult for them to be considered a title contender late in the season no matter how good they look. With this in mind, some fans are wondering how much Kelly's buyout is despite two 10-win seasons in his first two years.

While Kelly's teams haven't met playoff or national championship title expectations, the former Notre Dame coach has given the program new hope by playing the transfer portal and recruiting trails extremely well. The coach was able to sign Jayden Daniels out of the portal while recruiting stars like Garnett Nussmeier, Harold Perkins Jr and others outright from high school.

Kelly also has the third highest-ranked recruiting class for this season according to 247 Sports with top 2025 incoming QB Bryce Underwood and CB DJ Pickett leading the class. Despite two positive seasons and good moves in both recruiting and the transfer portal, some fans are looking to fire Kelly and wondering what the buyout is for his contract this season or the next.

What is Brian Kelly’s buyout?

According to Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, "Kelly will be around $60 million after this season." Considering this high buyout number, it's hard to see a world where the Tigers fire the coach this season or the next, even if the program loses to Ole Miss, Alabama, AND finishes without double-dight wins this season.

Despite not being able to reach the College Football Playoff in his first two seasons, Brian Kelly should be nowhere near losing his job. The coach has led the program to two very successful seasons in his first two years of the job.

Yes, at some point the program will need to step up and make the playoff or win a title under Kelly. Still, it's completely blasphemous that some fans want Kelly fired with the program having a good chance to make the 12-team playoff and more this season.