Where does LSU football coach Brian Kelly's salary, buyout rank in the SEC?
BATON ROUGE — Brian Kelly is in the third year of this 10-year deal as the head coach for LSU football.
Kelly signed a contract worth $95 million after leaving Notre Dame for LSU back in 2021. It was one of the richer deals a football coach has agreed upon to coach the Tigers.
Over the course of his time in Baton Rouge, Kelly has led the Tigers to an SEC West division crown, in his first season in 2022, when they played Georgia for the Southeastern Conference championship. LSU has gone 24-8 thus far under Kelly, who has led the purple and gold to back-to-back 10-win seasons in his first years at the helm.
So there's been some return on investment so far for LSU with Kelly.
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A look at Brian Kelly's contract with LSU football
Kelly's salary increases each season he's the head coach at LSU. His initial base salary was $9 million for the 2022 season and this season, he'll pull in $9.2 million, per the contract.
The escalating number stops at an even $10 million on the last year of the deal in 2031.
Per the USA Today Coaches Salary database, Kelly made $9.975 million for the 2023 season.
Incentives are where Kelly adds on more. The LSU coach bags $500,000 at the end of each season he remains the Tigers' coach and can make another $500,000 for guiding the team to a bowl game — something that every coach since the 1999 season has done.
If Kelly leads LSU to a national championship in 2024, his salary plus bonuses would total $11.325 million.
Where does Brian Kelly's salary rank in SEC?
The SEC expanded this season with Texas and Oklahoma officially joining the league. Now with 16 football coaches in the conference, where does Kelly's salary rank in the SEC?
Kelly is the fourth-highest paid coach in the league. Georgia's Kirby Smart made the most in 2023 at $13.003 million. Texas' Steve Sarkisian hauled in $10.6 million last season while Alabama's new head coach Kalen DeBoer has a base salary of $10 million for his first season in Tuscaloosa.
Brian Kelly has second-largest buyout in SEC football
Despite being the fourth-highest paid coach in the league, Kelly touts the SEC's second-largest buyout of his contract among his peers.
Entering the 2024 season, Kelly's buyout comes in at a whopping $61,738,333. Only Smart has a higher contract buyout and his is an incredible, $118,083,333.
The next closest to Kelly is Sarkisian, who has a more than $55 million buyout.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Where LSU coach Brian Kelly's salary ranks in the SEC
