Question about the buyout to address Landrys concern

The most logical scenario seems to be Woodward might've pulled the trigger without 100% securing booster funding for the buyout

I suppose if nobody stepped up, the buyout would be covered by LSU, which is a state owned institution. They said today that the buyouts had never and would never reach the taxpayers

So I guess Landry was technically right? But he's not going to force an incentive laden contract on the boosters, and nobody in Louisiana is paying a buyout any time soon

Right, LSU isn't firing a coach without the state's consent if there's a real risk of it becoming a state problem

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First off... Landry had no business weighing in on this situation

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Actually, he did whether you agree with it or not. He's the governor of the state; so he can weigh in on any situation he wants to.

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He made himself look like a clown.

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In your opinion he did.....but to a lot he didn't. To a lot of people, he assisted on getting rid of the clowns at LSU.

If no promissory note was executed Woody did put the state in a very financially risky spot between firing Kelly and receiving donor funds.

I mean, what if one of the donors says, "oh, never mind".

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It all goes through TAF, which is technically a separate entity from the institution.

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I have to imagine that TAF has all this process legally buttoned up. This ain't their first rodeo.

Louisiana politicians have always been useless. This one just wants to be useless in public.

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If no promissory note was executed Woody did put the state in a very financially risky spot between firing Kelly and receiving donor funds.

I mean, what if one of the donors says, "oh, never mind".

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I don’t know whether the AD/TAF go that far before firing a head coach, but I’d imagine it depends at least partially on the situation.

Consider the worst case scenario for this firing. Hypothetically, whichever donors initially said they would fund the buyout change their minds. LSU/TAF aren’t suddenly on the hook for a $53 million lump sum. Kelly’s buyout is 90% of his remaining pay, and that buyout is payable in monthly installments over the remainder of the contract term. So in reality, LSU just continues to pay him 90% of what they were already paying him (which is already part of the budget). It comes out to something like $8.9 million per year.

So if a donor backs out of the buyout, the worst case scenario is that LSU and TAF now have to deal with this $8.9 million/year expense when planning future budgets. That could mean there’s a lot less money available for the next coaching hire. It could mean that they have less money available for revenue sharing than they intended. Or it could mean that TAF has to dip into its ~$100 million in current assets to make it work.

Even in that scenario, though, they have a month or two to find another funding source before the next coaching hire and then 6 years to find that funding source after the next coaching hire.

Now let’s think about an alternative scenario where LSU and Brian Kelly negotiate a reduced lump sum buyout. Let’s say it’s $40 million. Instead of needing to cover ~740k/month over 6 years, LSU now needs to cover a $40 million lump sum payment. That’s an entirely different animal, and I’d be shocked if the BOS signed off on that settlement without having the money completely locked down.