LSU decided to part ways with, now, former head coach, Brian Kelly, on Sunday evening, October 26th . The firing comes after the LSU Tigers dropped a Death Valley home game to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday, October 25th. The loss against A&M dropped the Tigers to 5-3 on the season. 

Brian Kelly arrived in Baton Rouge in 2021 after 12 years at Notre Dame and after LSU had fired former head coach, Ed Orgeron. In his 12 years at Notre Dame, Kelly posted a 92-39 record. Kelly signed a 10-year, $95 million contract with LSU in November of 2021.

Kelly’s, almost 10 million a year, contract involved a few incentives and perks as well. As a part of his LSU deal, Kelly received a yearly car allowance, a Baton Rouge country club membership, over $250,000 per year for private air charter, and an interest-free mortgage loan with added relocation costs of up to $1.2 million, according to On3. 

In his first two years at LSU, Brian Kelly posted two 10-win seasons (2022 & 2023). In 2024, Kelly led LSU to a 9-4 record and is flirting with the same or worse record this year.

Much like former Penn State head coach, James Franklin, Kelly’s contract includes a duty to mitigate clause, meaning Kelly will need to search for a new job and, once hired, LSU will only have to pay his difference in salary between the buyout and his new salary. 

Brian Kelly’s buyout is no low number either. No, Kelly’s buyout stands as the second highest coaching buyout in college football history. His 2025 buyout is currently at $53.29 million dollars and Kelly would receive $740k+ until the end of 2031. It remains unknown if Kelly and LSU will further negotiate the buyout. 

Brian Kelly joins a laundry list of college football head coaches that have been fired just over halfway through the 2025 college football season. I’ve already given you a brief list of coaches who you could see in Stillwater, Oklahoma for the 2026 football season. Should Brian Kelly be one of them? 

If I am Oklahoma State Athletic Director, Chad Weiberg, I would stand pat and not entertain Brian Kelly as the next head coach of Oklahoma State.

I believe Kelly would command a pretty penny compared to other capable head coaching hires. And while his track record at big name blue bloods does hold some weight, I am just not sure a coach like Brian Kelly is determined or has the ‘want-to’ to try and turn a program like Oklahoma State around.

I will add Kelly to my board of potential Gundy replacements, but only for due diligence reasons. A Kelly hire for Oklahoma State, in my opinion, would be a BHINO, or a “Big Hire In Name Only”, for Cowboy football, not a helpful one.