Why Firing Brian Kelly Isn’t in LSU’s Playbook, College Football Insider Hot Seat Talk Shut Down
The 2025 college football season is right around the corner. With it, some coaches will enter the year on the hot seat.
However, it doesn’t seem like LSU Tigers coach Brian Kelly is one of them.
ESPN analysts Peter Burns and Chris Doering discussed that, and Burns said there is “no way” Kelly is on the hot seat.
There is no way in hell that Brian Kelly is on the hot seat in 2025,” Burns said. “Unless LSU loses by 40 at Clemson and they go 5-7 and he is literally giving the middle finger to the fans in Tiger Stadium in the last couple of home games of the season, is Brian Kelly getting fired at LSU. They don’t have the money to do it…The idea of Brian Kelly being on any type of hot seat is absolutely asinine.”
“There is no way Brian Kelly is on the hot seat in 2025. Unless….”
@PeterBurnsESPN & @ChrisDoering talked about some rumors ahead of the CFB season on #SECThisMorning! pic.twitter.com/sFchaaaSml— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) August 11, 2025
“All the financial things that you just talked about are certainly factor,” Doering replied. “Who else is out there that you’re going to go get that’s obtainable that’s better than the guy you have now?”
Kelly is entering his fourth season in Baton Rouge and he has a 29-11 record with three Bowl game victories since leaving Notre Dame.
But, it sure doesn’t seem like he is going anywhere barring an unforeseen collapse from the Tigers this year.
According to Craig Meyer of USA Today, Kelly’s contract is for 10 years and at $95 million. That means he has seven years left as of now.
If LSU did move on from Kelly, it would still be on the hook for a large chunk of cash, per USA Today.
“If Kelly is fired without cause on Dec. 1, he would be owed $61,738,333 based on the terms of the contract he signed on April 6, 2022. In the event he’s fired without cause, Kelly is set to receive 90% of his remaining base salary and supplemental compensation that would have been made payable to him over the remainder of his contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2031 – as well as any prorated longevity compensation for the year of termination.”
Kelly’s buyout number is also the fourth-highest in the country behind Kirby Smart, Kalen DeBoer and Mike Norvell.
So, that makes things even more tricky for LSU if they did want to cut ties with the head coach, although Burns and Doering don’t foresee that happening, at least not this season.
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