LSU is firing fourth-year coach Brian Kelly, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports. The move comes after the Tigers failed to deliver on high expectations in a disappointing 2025 season. The 64-year-old Kelly is in the midst of a 5-3 season in Baton Rouge. His buyout of $50-plus million will be the second most ever paid to a college football coach.
A contentious Sunday of meetings in Baton Rouge culminated in Kelly’s exit. CBS Sports had previously reported that Kelly arrived at the football facility in the morning with the expectation of firing offensive coordinator Joe Sloan:
Kelly, 64, arrived at the facility around 8:30-8:45 a.m. local time intent on evaluating his staff and, according to sources, exploring significant potential changes to the coaching staff. By early afternoon, though, after a meeting with Woodward that did not go well, according to sources, the conversation around Kelly’s future began to change. Multiple staff members told CBS Sports that Kelly left the facility shortly thereafter.
The day ends with Kelly’s ousting. Running backs coach Frank Wilson will be the interim coach. A 30-day transfer portal window for LSU players will open Monday (the NCAA’s single window for this cycle is Jan. 2-16).
The high-profile leadership change by athletics director Scott Woodward, who made the splashy hire of Kelly in 2021, is the latest in what has already been a whirlwind of a coaching carousel cycle. LSU jumps toward the front of the line of programs seeking a home-run hire, along with Penn State, Florida, Virginia Tech and numerous others at the Power Four level.
Woodward, by the way, is the same AD who hired Jimbo Fisher to Texas A&M — setting the stage for Fisher to receive an all-time-rich $76.8 million buyout. Louisiana governor Jeff Landry was involved in the deliberations, sources told CBS Sports. Landry called out the football program after Saturday night’s 49-25 loss to Texas A&M, tweeting that LSU needed to “rethink their actions to raise ticket prices for next year after tonight’s showing!”
CBS Sports Research
With its sights set on reaching the College Football Playoff, LSU invested heavily in its roster through the transfer portal and loaded up on talent with the No. 1-ranked class in the cycle, per 247Sports. That recruiting push indicated LSU was all-in on competing for an SEC championship and its first CFP berth of the Kelly era.
The Tigers’ defense improved significantly with the influx of instant-impact playmakers, but in a reversal from previous years, it was the offense that struggled to hold up its end of the bargain this season. LSU is averaging its fewest points per game since 2009 and its fewest yards per game since 2011.
To fall short of lofty expectations, and to do so for a fourth time in as many years, was the final straw for Kelly to end his reign in Baton Rouge. The angst around the LSU program reached palpable levels with the Week 9 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M. Chants of “Fire Kelly” echoed throughout Tiger Stadium as LSU squandered a halftime lead and fell in blowout fashion to the Aggies in a 49-25 loss. LSU has a bye this weekend and then plays at rival Alabama.
LSU’s recruiting class for the 2026 cycle ranks No. 11 overall, per 247Sports. In 2025 the Bayou Bengals signed a No. 7 class that ranked higher before the decommitment from No. 1 recruit Bryce Underwood, who has started every game at QB for Michigan this fall.
Kelly’s buyout ranks among the largest in college football. Programs have not been deterred by colossal buyouts in this hectic cycle, though, and LSU is the latest to eat a sizable chunk of money to make a change. The athletic department owes Kelly more than $52 million for parting ways with him during the season. The buyout calls for Kelly to receive 90% of the salary owed through the remainder of his contract, which measures $52,380,000 at season’s end.
Most expensive buyouts in college football history
| Rank | Coach | School | Buyout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimbo Fisher | Texas A&M | $76.8 million |
| 2 | Brian Kelly | LSU | $53.8 million |
| 3 | James Franklin | Penn State | $49 million |
| 4 | Gus Malzahn | Auburn | $21.4 million |
| 5 | Billy Napier | Florida | $21.2 million |
| 6 | Charlie Weis | Notre Dame | $18.9 million |
| 7 | Willie Taggart | Florida State | $18 million |
| 8 | Ed Orgeron | LSU | $16.9 million |
| 9 | Tom Allen | Indiana | $15.5 million |
| 10 | Tom Herman | Texas | $15.4 million |
Because LSU fired Kelly in the middle of the campaign, it must also pay him 90% of the remaining $9.4 million salary owed for the 2025 season.
Who’s next at LSU?
Any coaching search that Scott Woodward has his hands on should involve a slew of big-hitters. For better or worse, that’s the type of hire he goes after. That’s why names like Lane Kiffin and James Franklin are in the list of LSU’s candidates, according to CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer. Three major wild cards will draw attention, though (copy via Hummer).
- Jimbo Fisher: I know suggesting Fisher here seems absurd. But remember it’s Woodward who hired Fisher at Texas A&M and believed in him to such a degree he gave Fisher a historically lucrative contract to lure him from Florida State. Fisher’s star has obviously dimmed. But Woodward actively pursued Fisher when he conducted LSU’s search in 2021. Fisher has deep ties to LSU and is a national championship-winning coach. It’s a marriage that makes a lot of sense if you can ignore Fisher’s last two seasons in College Station.
- Dabo Swinney: Swinney is amid his worst season as Clemson’s head coach since 2010. Could Woodward follow his Texas A&M playbook and lure a national champion to Baton Rouge? Swinney is a proven program builder and would seem to fit in at LSU culturally in a way Kelly never managed to. If Swinney wants a fresh start, you could pick much worse places than Baton Rouge to do so. But like Fisher, you must wonder if Swinney would be a sexy enough hire at this point in his career.
- Nick Saban: It was only earlier this week when Saban said, “I want to stay retired.” But if there was a non-Alabama job that could tempt Saban, it’d be LSU, the place he won his first national championship. Would he take the job if offered? Probably not. But Woodward’s history tells you he’ll at least ask.
Breakthrough season evades Brian Kelly
LSU is a proud program with national championship expectations (its three prior coaches won one) and thus faced inherent risk when it hired Kelly ahead of the 2022 season. The longtime Notre Dame coach failed to get over the championship hump at his previous spot and only once reached the CFP. The same troubles followed him to LSU and were ultimately what spelled the end of his tenure.
Never did the Tigers win more than nine regular-season games under Kelly’s leadership. They generally hovered near SEC title contention but regularly fell just short, losing at least two conference games in each of Kelly’s four years at the helm. Particularly frustrating for the Tiger faithful was to see the program fall short of championships despite a terrific run at the quarterback spot with Heisman Trophy-winner Jayden Daniels and future NFL Draft pick Garrett Nussmeier.
LSU peaked at No. 3 in the AP Top 25 this season, reaching its highest ranking of the Kelly era. The Tigers climbed into the top 10 in each of his four years, indicating that they often came close to earning a playoff berth but had their hopes dashed by untimely losses.
Brian Kelly faces crossroads in coaching career
One of the biggest questions facing Kelly moving forward is whether he will seek a new job or hit the pause or stop buttons on his career. The 64-year-old may have his pick of multiple jobs given the widespread movement on the coaching carousel but could also emerge as a more attractive target in future cycles if he takes time off.
If Kelly were to spend the 2026 season away from the sidelines, it would mark his first year without a head coaching job since 1990, before he made his debut. This is the first time in Kelly’s career that he has been fired. He left each of his previous stops — Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame — to accept offers elsewhere.
Kelly went 34-14 at LSU and has a career mark of 297-109-2 spanning all of his five jobs. He won two Division II national championships at Grand Valley State and reached the BCS National Championship Game once during his Notre Dame tenure.
2025 coaching carousel spinning at historic rate
Kelly is the 12th head coach fired this year and is the 10th in-season. The 10 coaches fired before November is the most in the FBS era (since 1978).
Additionally, Kelly is the eighth power conference head coach fired this season. Only four of that variety were canned a year ago. The current number of eight — and there’s a ways to go — is the most since 2022.
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