Kiffin’s contract reveals limits to Landry’s power over LSU

Gov. Jeff Landry speaks in the Louisiana House of Representatives on the opening day of a legislative special session, Nov. 6, 2024, at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate, Pool)

Gov. Jeff Landry left no room for doubt in late October when asked whether then-LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward would hire the university’s next football coach. With harsh criticism of the buyout terms in Brian Kelly’s contract, the governor all but said outright that Woodward would also be dismissed for having crafted the deal that will pay Kelly nearly $54 million not to coach the Tigers. 

Landry strongly suggested LSU make an incentive-based offer to its next football coach, implying any losses would directly impact their pay. 

“We’re going to make sure that he’s compensated properly, and we’re going to put metrics on him because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then making the taxpayers foot the bill,” Landry said during an Oct. 29 news conference. 

Setting aside the fact that taxpayers have never been on the hook for LSU’s coaching buyouts, the governor appeared intent on reining in the soaring salaries of college football coaches.

Then market forces entered the conversation.

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When Lane Kiffin became the primary target for new LSU Athletics Director Verge Ausberry, it became crystal clear he would have to be made one of the highest-paid coaches in the nation to leave Ole Miss. Kiffin’s seven-year, $91 million deal with LSU elevates him from 10th on the college football compensation list to No. 2, with an annual pay of $13 million. That’s barely behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart and just ahead of Ohio State’s Ryan Day, who both have national championship trophies on their mantles.

Should Kiffin lead LSU to a national title, with a single trophy being the minimal expectation from Tiger fans, his contract calls for him to become the highest paid coach in the country.

While he apparently placed no limits on what LSU could spend to corral Kiffin, the governor certainly seemed intent on ensuring the new coach’s buyout terms would be far more modest than Kelly’s.

Not so fast, my friend.

If LSU wants to fire Kiffin just because he loses too many games, he would be owed 80% of his remaining salary. His contract doesn’t include any contingencies to offset what he’s owed if he is terminated and then takes another coaching job.

LSU is also covering the $3 million Kiffin owes Ole Miss to get out of his contract there, plus it will cover any post-season bonus he would have made had he remained the Rebels’ coach. It’s all but certain that will include $150,000 for Ole Miss playing in the first round of the playoffs, and it could mean $1 million more if the Rebels win the national title.

Landry is far from the first Louisiana leader to take an active interest in LSU athletics. It’s well known that Huey Long did everything but suit up for the Tigers during his tenure as governor and U.S. senator, helping flesh out the school’s new campus along Highland Road with a state-funded football stadium that doubled as a dormitory. 

John McKeithen, the governor from 1964-72, was arguably a more ardent booster, regularly attending LSU football practices and away games as well as actively recruiting future legends like Bert Jones and Tommy Casanova. McKeithen also put in motion plans to build what’s now the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

It’s too soon to tell whether Landry will rival these predecessors with his involvement in LSU sports, though he set a clear precedent when he okayed the rental of a live tiger to appear on the sidelines for last year’s Alabama game. 

Landry easily wields more power over the university than any other governor in modern history. He has the loyalty of not only his personal appointees to LSU’s Board of Supervisors but also those who predate his administration. 

Scott Ballard, Landry’s hand-picked board chairman, has helped implement the governor’s higher education agenda, exorcising campus policy and curriculum linked to diversity, equity and inclusion. Ballard also orchestrated the hiring of a Landry-favored candidate for LSU president, Wade Rousse. 

But for all the might the governor has displayed when it comes to LSU administration, the Kiffin contract reveals Landry’s limits. Even he seemed to acknowledge as much Monday during an interview with Fox News, when he was asked about LSU’s “poach” of the Ole Miss coach with the Rebels heading into the playoffs.

“You don’t hate the player,” Landry said. “You can hate the game if you like, but that’s where we are in college sports right now.”

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