Tiger of the Shire

I found the attached exhibits most interesting. Did Verge's insecurity allow him to get baited by Kelly's attorney? I thinks so. Here's the sequence that caught my attention:

On Oct. 31 (after Woodward fired/resigned), Kelly's attorneys send email to John Carmouche (LSU BoS) (copying Verge) looking for written confirmation that LSU intends to honor terms of BK's buyout payments. Email references Oct. 27 call with Verge and Ms. Cromer of LSU where they "confirmed LSU intended to honor the terms of the Agreement pertaining to termination without cause". He goes on to end the email declaring that Verge ended the same conversation on Oct. 27 by saying that "someone from the LSU Board of Supervisors or the Governor's Office would be reaching out for further discussions."

The reference of Verge having made a statement implying that the Governor's office might be running further buyout discussions seems to have struck a nerve with Verge. (He's already being painted as a 'Yes Man' for the Gov on these message boards and locally so it's got to be an insecurity of his, especially if he did not actually say this.)

So the next day (Nov. 1) Verge replied with a short email stating "Good evening. At no time did we say someone from the governors office would be reaching out. We said someone from the Board of supervisors would be reaching out. That is the only time I had any conversation with any of Coach Kelly's representatives."

Attorneys do not receive any other response from Carmouche, Verge or otherwise. Kelly's attorneys go on to use this email response from Verge as an additional supporting exhibit in the filing to show how Verge corrected them on something he felt was wrong (misquoting him referencing that someone from Gov.'s office would reach out). They contend that Verge's silence on correcting anything else about the email implies he had no disagreement with their contention that he previously communicated LSU's intention to honor the terms of the Agreement pertaining to termination without cause.

If the lawyer just slipped that reference in about the governor's office to bait Verge into a response... I admit that was pretty slick.

Take-away: Don't ever even reply to lawyers trying to get you to rep something on paper. Even your silence in failing to retort something can be used against you.

I agree with you. I thought from the start that ~$35mm was likely the lowest that Kelly might consider, but $40mm likely more accurate.

Kelly knows he's damaged goods now coming off a failed LSU experiment and no certainty he gets a great rebound opportunity. He'll accept a number that he's confident would allow him to surpass $54mm based on additional coaching compensation.

Sure I'd bet a Boston College or Arkansas-type job might pay him a 4 year deal at $4-$5mm annually. And that would allow him to surpass $54mm total comp, but also some risk that this doesn't play out.

I'd speculate that LSU was hoping by introducing the potential "for cause" firing that Kelly would be more willing to negotiate a number more to their liking to avoid any additional public discussion of Kelly's potential wrongdoings. But Kelly has essentially called their bluff by filing the lawsuit and making the "for cause" attempt public.

This posturing by Kelly however makes me think it's more likely that his preferred outcome is to be done with coaching rather than taking a position at a clear Tier 3/4 program without championship aspirations. If that is the case, the calculus might shift up towards a lumpsum closer to $45mm (which is around the present value of his contractual payments assuming he can get a 5-6% annual return).

I'm also interested in 2-4 tickets. shiretiger@gmail.com Thanks

Looking for 2 tickets to LSU vs USCe (lower level preferably, LSU section preferably).

Email: shiretiger@gmail.com

Thanks!

UPDATE: Purchased tickets, no longer in need.