College Football Coach Buyouts Are Not What They Seem

This year’s college football coaching carousel, which most recently saw the firing of LSU’s Brian Kelly on Sunday, comprises about $169 million in buyouts. 

But in many cases, schools may not have to pay the full buyouts—thanks to contract idiosyncrasies like offset clauses and buyout negotiations.

Kelly, for example, signed a massive 10-year, $95 million contract with LSU in 2021. Four years later, LSU owes Kelly 90% of the remaining six years of compensation on his contract as part of a buyout—amounting to about $53 million. 

The Tigers likely aren’t on the hook for all of it, however. Kelly’s contract includes an offset and “duty to mitigate” clause. That means that his contract requires him to search for another job in the industry, as a college football head coach, media personality, or other comparable role. If and when he lands a new job, LSU will owe him the difference between his new salary and what his buyout is worth. What’s more, the Tigers have plenty of time to pay Kelly. His contract stipulates that the buyout will be paid in equal monthly installments—about $800,000 a month until Kelly gets another job.

The specific language in the contract, which is publicly available, states: “In the event of termination by LSU without cause, the amount of liquidated damages owed by LSU under this Section shall be reduced and extinguished by and to the extent of any compensation Employee earns, receives, or is entitled to receive for football-related employment, whether intercollegiate or professional, including coaching, administration or media, from any third party from the termination date until LSU’s obligation pursuant to thai section to Employee terminates or ceases to exist.” The contract says Kelly “shall exercise due diligence and good faith in seeking qualifying employment so long as the liquidated damage obligation exists.”

Offset clauses are common in college sports. Penn State’s James Franklin, whose buyout was somewhere between $48 million and $50 million, also has an offset and duty to mitigate clause, FOS previously reported. But not every school has one: Florida’s Billy Napier, who was fired last week and is owed between $19 million and $21 million, is due half the buyout within 30 days and does not have an offset clause for the rest.

Perhaps the most notable example, however, was Jimbo Fisher, who was fired from Texas A&M in 2023. His buyout, the largest in college football history, tops $75 million. Fisher didn’t have an offset clause, which meant Texas A&M was on the hook for the full buyout no matter what his next job was going to be. Fisher is currently an analyst for ACC Network, so he’s now making two salaries. 

The final option athletic departments have to reduce a buyout is to negotiate. Some coaches may prefer to get a lower total amount in a shorter period of time, rather than their full buyout paid out over multiple years. Kelly might end up in that situation, for example, as LSU confirmed in a statement that “terms of the separation are still being negotiated.”