Lane Kiffin’s new seven-year contract with LSU will pay him $91 million in total, according to The Advocate‘s Wilson Alexander.
His $13 million average salary is the second-highest in FBS behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($13.3 million). Kiffin would surpass Smart’s earnings in the event he helps the Tigers win a national championship.
According to Alexander, the 50-year-old will also receive 80 percent of his outstanding compensation if he’s fired without cause.
LSU is on the hook for $54 million after firing Brian Kelly without cause.
Hiring Kelly proved to be an expensive mistake for the school, and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry asserted in October it was “not going down a failed path” during the search for his replacement.
The governor also implied Tigers administrators would try to structure the contract for the next coach in a way that avoids another massive buyout.
“We’re gonna make sure that he’s compensated properly, and we’re gonna put metrics on it because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill,” Landry said.
At the end of the day, LSU didn’t really have that luxury when it was bidding against Florida and Ole Miss for Kiffin’s signature. The coach possessed all of the leverage, so the Tigers had to accede to his general demands.
According to Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, Ole Miss offered a deal that was “nearly identical” to LSU’s contract.
One can question whether paying Kiffin this much money is a sound investment. His teams have finished in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll just twice in his first 13 years, and he has never reached a national title game or claimed a major conference championship.
But the coaching market is massively inflated.
Missouri has a .622 record under Eliah Drinkwitz, and that was enough to get him a new six-year deal worth $10.75 million per season. Curt Cignetti didn’t even finish his second year at Indiana before he signed an extension approaching $93 million.
LSU was going to pay up one way or the other if it was determined to land a marquee candidate during this hiring cycle.