LSU signed head coach Lane Kiffin to a seven-year, $91 million deal that includes several performance-based incentives and still allows him to profit off Ole Miss’ likely trip to the College Football Playoff, according to a copy of his term sheet obtained Monday morning by The Advocate through a public records request.
Kiffin will earn $13 million per year, making him the second-highest paid coach in college football. Georgia coach Kirby Smart led the country this year with a $13.28 million salary, according to a USA Today database. Kiffin signed the term sheet at some point Saturday, the day before he announced his move to LSU.
At the moment, Kiffin and Smart are the only coaches who will make more than $13 million per year before incentives. Kiffin’s annual salary put him ahead of Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who made $12.5 million this year after winning his first national title. If Kiffin wins a national championship at LSU, his deal includes an automatic escalator that would make him the highest-paid coach in the country.
Smart and Day have both won a national championship, something Kiffin will try to do for the first time as a head coach while at LSU. Kiffin, 50, has a 117-53 overall record in 14 years as a head coach at multiple stops. He led Ole Miss to four 10-win seasons in the past five years, including the Rebels’ first 11-win regular season this fall.
Kiffin earned $9 million before bonuses this year at Ole Miss, making him the 10th highest-paid coach in the country, according to USA Today. LSU agreed to pay his $3 million buyout for leaving the school.
If LSU fires Kiffin without cause, it would owe him 80% of his remaining salary, which would be paid out in monthly installments through 2032. The deal does not include any mitigation or offset clauses that would reduce the cost if Kiffin got another job, fully guaranteeing his compensation. LSU would not have to pay him if he was fired for cause.
LSU has also prepared to commit $25-30 million annually for Kiffin’s roster through revenue sharing and name, image and likeness funds, sources told The Advocate. Former coach Brian Kelly said LSU spent about $18 million on the roster this season. The Tigers finished the regular season 7-5 after losing Saturday to No. 8 Oklahoma.
LSU paid Kelly $9.9 million this year through his standard salary and an annual longevity bonus, according to his contract. Kelly was fired Oct. 26 with six years remaining on his deal and owed 90% of his remaining compensation. LSU last week agreed to fire him without cause and pay his nearly $54 million buyout after Kelly sued the LSU board of supervisors. Kelly’s attorneys were expected to withdraw the lawsuit Monday.
In a news conference a few days after Kelly was fired, Gov. Jeff Landry criticized high-priced coaching contracts with large buyouts. He suggested deals should be weighted with performance-based incentives that would reduce the guaranteed cost and lower the price to fire a coach. If paid in full, Kelly’s buyout would be the second-largest in college football history. His contract included a duty to mitigate clause that would offset the cost if he takes another job in football.
Some of those concepts made it into Kiffin’s deal. LSU officials did not want to make another 10-year commitment, signing Kiffin to a shorter term. Kiffin can also make up to $4 million in postseason incentives if LSU wins the SEC championship and a national title in the same year, while Kelly could make $1.15 million in that scenario. Kiffin would earn $1 million for the SEC title and $3 million for the national championship.
If Kiffin leaves LSU within the first year of his deal for another head coaching job, he would owe $7 million. The cost for him to leave decreases in roughly $1 million annual increments over the course of the term until he would have to pay $1.5 million in 2031.
Even though he left Ole Miss before the College Football Playoff, Kiffin can continue to earn incentives through its postseason run. LSU agreed to pay him what he “would have been entitled to receive” if he had stayed at Ole Miss during the CFP, including $150,000 if the Rebels play in the first round as expected or up to $1 million if they win the national championship.
After accepting the LSU job, Kiffin said in a statement Sunday he wanted to coach Ole Miss through the CFP, a sticking point in the timing of his decision. Kiffin said Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter “denied” his request and claimed players asked Carter “to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance.”
With an 11-1 record, Ole Miss will likely make the CFP for the first time and could host a first-round game. Kiffin said last week it was “very important” to him to finish the season with the team, but Ole Miss did not want him to stay if he intended to leave for an SEC rival. Their disagreement came to a head over the weekend, and Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding was promoted to head coach after Kiffin’s departure.
“After a lot of prayer and time spent with family, I made the difficult decision to accept the head coaching position at LSU,” Kiffin said in a statement posted Sunday to social media. “I was hoping to complete a historic six season run with this year’s team by leading Ole Miss through the playoffs, capitalizing on the team’s incredible success and their commitment to finish strong, and investing everything in a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern.”
