Former LSU football head coach Brian Kelly filed a lawsuit against the university’s Board of Supervisors Monday, ESPN has reported, seeking for a court to confirm that he is owed the full liquidated damages in his contract.
In the lawsuit, Kelly’s team claims that LSU took the position in a phone call Monday that it had not yet formally terminated Kelly and would now be seeking to terminate him for cause.
The Advocate previously reported that Kelly’s team had given LSU a deadline on Monday to confirm whether or not it would be paying him his full buyout. If it didn’t receive confirmation, the team said it would “pursue all available legal remedies,” according to The Advocate.
Kelly was fired Oct. 26 after LSU’s blowout loss to Texas A&M dropped his team to 5-3 on the season. Since he was fired without cause, he is owed a $53 million buyout per the terms of his contract. According to his contract, the buyout is meant to be paid out in monthly installments until 2031.
However, LSU has reportedly been seeking to lower the cost of the buyout by negotiating with Kelly.
According to The Advocate, documents indicate LSU, on the day of Kelly’s firing, offered to pay him a one-time payment of $25 million instead of his buyout. LSU later offered Kelly $30 million over two payments. Kelly rejected these offers, the documents obtained by The Advocate said.
If LSU terminated for cause, however, LSU would not owe him a buyout. It’s not immediately clear what cause LSU would have to fire Kelly.
“LSU has never claimed that Coach Kelly was terminated for cause and, prior to November 10, 2025, never asserted that he engaged in any conduct that would warrant such a termination,” the lawsuit reads, according to ESPN’s report. “To the contrary, LSU repeatedly confirmed, both publicly and to Coach Kelly, that the termination was due to the Team’s performance, not for cause.”
Kelly’s lawsuit said that LSU’s assertion that Kelly had not yet been terminated was based on the fact that then-Athletic Director Scott Woodward didn’t have the authority to do so. Woodward is no longer the AD; he and LSU parted ways a day after Gov. Jeff Landry publicly criticized his “track record” of hiring coaches like Kelly for huge contracts and then firing them at the expense of a buyout.
Kelly was reportedly fired in a meeting with Woodward and other athletic officials.
The lawsuit was reportedly filed as a petition for declaratory judgment in the 19th Judicial District Court in downtown Baton Rouge. The filing was not immediately available in the court’s online records.
Some of the acts that would prompt a termination for cause listed in Kelly’s contract are: violation of LSU or NCAA rules; “being convicted of any felony or any crime involving gambling, drugs or alcohol”; “serious misconduct” that displays disrespect or disregard for the mission of LSU or “breaches the high moral and ethical standards applicable to [Kelly] as a visible representative of LSU,” such as dishonesty, misrepresentation, fraud or violence; gambling on athletic contests; consumption of alcohol or controlled substances in a way that is illegal or would “substantially impair” ability to perform the job or encouraging athletes to use such substances; not upholding “safe and responsible treatment of student athletes”; and not complying with Title IX policies.
