Is Brian Kelly worth it?
With LSU sitting at 5-2 after a stunning loss to No. 17 Vanderbilt — the Tigers’ first defeat to the Commodores since 1990 — head coach Brian Kelly’s job security is once again under the microscope.
Brian Kelly has gone 46-35 at LSU over three-and-half years as the Tigers head coach. (Photo by Carly Mackler/Getty Images)
According to USA TODAY Sports’ annual database of college coaches’ salaries, Kelly is the eighth-highest paid coach in college football, earning $10.175 million in 2025. Only three SEC coaches — Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer — earn more.
According to that same database, LSU would owe Kelly $53,293,333, as of December 1, 2025, if the Tigers fired him without cause.
Still, the questions are mounting, and so is the frustration.
LSU is already on the outside looking in when it comes to the College Football Playoff, and they’re sure to drop out of the top 10 in this week’s AP poll. Worse still, the Tigers have three games against ranked teams on their upcoming schedule, including a pair of back-to-back matchups against No. 4 Texas A&M (Oct. 25) and No. 6 Alabama (Nov. 8).
Kelly’s record in Baton Rouge — 34–13 (.723) midway through his fourth season — looks respectable on paper. But he has yet to deliver a CFP appearance, and this year’s team, which entered the 2025 campaign with lofty expectations, is slipping fast. Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier entered this season with the second-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy, but has struggled to live up to the hype and now sits outside the top 10.
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