How LSU Landed Lane Kiffin: Private Jets, Politics, and a Record-Breaking $91 Million Contract
One month after Louisiana's Governor demanded that LSU's next coach sign a performance-based contract, the school is giving Lane Kiffin $91 million...with an 80% buyout...and no offset language.
If college football is a reality show, then LSU’s courtship of Lane Kiffin has been the wildest episode yet. What started as a messy divorce with tens of millions of dollars on the line quickly became a political pissing contest, complete with secret flights on private jets and a lopsided contract negotiated by the sport’s most powerful agent.
Just a few days after LSU fired Brian Kelly, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry made his opinion clear. Since Louisiana taxpayers were technically on the hook for Kelly’s $54 million buyout if LSU was unable to come up with the money itself, Landry joked that he would let Donald Trump pick the school’s next head football coach before allowing LSU’s current athletic director, Scott Woodward, to be involved in the hiring process.
Landry then appeared on The Pat McAfee Show a day later to repeat the same few lines. In summary, Landry believed that coaching contracts in college football had gotten out of control, so he promised that LSU would reset the market. Rather than allowing a new coach to dictate the terms, LSU would leverage its brand to force its next coach to sign a performance-based contract. If the coach wins games, they would receive millions in incentives. If they lose and get fired, the buyout would disappear.
The only problem with this approach is that it doesn’t match reality. In this new era of college football dominated by money, coaches have all the leverage. And after reading through the details of Lane Kiffin’s new contract with LSU, not only did Governor Landry get none of the things that he said he would get, but Kiffin’s agent — the infamous Jimmy Sexton — landed him a deal that is even better than Brian Kelly’s.