Former LSU head coach Brian Kelly received a formal letter from the school on Wednesday informing him that the university was terminating his contract without cause, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo.
The termination without cause means that LSU owes Kelly the full $54 million buyout as long as the former Tigers head coach adheres to the “duty to mitigate” clause in his contract that requires him to make a “good faith, reasonable and sustained effort to obtain qualified employment for as long as liquidated damages are due.”
In other words, as long as Kelly seeks out another head coaching job, LSU is on the hook for paying the full buyout to the 64-year-old over the next six years.
The letter ends the post-firing saga between Kelly and LSU that began when he was let go on Oct. 26, eight games into his fourth season as head coach. Since then, LSU tried to settle with Kelly for amounts less than what was fully owed on his buyout. The former head coach turned down both settlement offers, and then filed a lawsuit against the school ensuring that he would be paid the full remaining value of his contract due to being fired without cause.
Kelly was 34–14 in his three-plus seasons in Baton Rouge.
More College Football on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as LSU Formally Fires Brian Kelly, Triggering $54 Million Buyout.
