Topline
Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin announced he would leave the school on Sunday, just before the College Football Playoff, after accepting the head coaching job at LSU—in what will be one of the richest deals in college football history.
Kiffin will be one of the highest paid coaches in college football.
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Key Facts
LSU will pay Kiffin $13 million per year, according to a term sheet seen by both ESPN and The Athletic, worth $91 million before bonuses.
If Kiffin is formally fired without cause before the end of his seven-year contract, like former LSU head coach Brian Kelly was, the university will still be on the hook to pay 80% of his salary without any offset from a new job.
The university also offered to pay Kiffin the bonuses he would have received based on Ole Miss’s performance in the College Football Playoff this season—$150,000 if his old team exits in the first round, $250,000 for making the quarterfinals and $1 million if they win the championship.
LSU also offered Kiffin lucrative bonuses, including $750,000 for making the College Football Playoff, $1 million for winning the Southeastern Conference’s championship, and $3 million for winning the national championship.
Another clause in the term sheet would bump Kiffin’s salary up to make him the highest paid coach in the NCAA if he wins a national championship (University of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart’s $13.3 million salary is currently the highest in college football).
LSU also offered to cover the difference for buying a new home in Louisiana, up to $500,000, according to ESPN.
Kiffin, who coached his first season for the Rebels in 2020, was already making a reported $9 million a year after Ole Miss extended his contract earlier this year, the Clarion Ledger reported in October.
Key Background
Kiffin, a college football veteran and former head coach at Florida Atlantic University, the University of Southern California and University of Tennessee, led Ole Miss to one of its most successful seasons in recent memory. The Rebels are 11-1 and ranked No. 6 on the most recent AP Top 25 poll. Kiffin’s record with the team is 55-19 over the past six seasons. Despite the success, rumors circulated for days that Kiffin would leave Ole Miss for LSU, one of the most high-profile programs in college football. LSU formally fired head coach Brian Kelly last week. Kelly was terminated without cause, meaning LSU will also be paying out the remainder of his $53 million contract while paying Kiffin’s salary. Kelly’s dismissal and his massive buyout spiraled into a political spectacle, with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry bashing then-LSU athletic director Scott Woodward over the contract and saying he would not be involved in the selection of the next head coach. Woodward was out as the LSU athletic director just days later. Verge Ausberry was then named the new athletic director.
