In Brian Kelly’s lawsuit against LSU, it claims that Monday was the first time the former Tigers coach was told the school was seeking to fire him for cause. Tiger Rag Executive Editor Todd Horne says sources close to the situation tell him that’s not the case, as Kelly was informed of the possibility that he could be fired for cause the day after LSU’s loss to Texas A&M.
“Then they explained to him that they had ample reasons that they could separate, with cause, from him, but they wanted to spare him the public humiliation and reach a settlement agreement with him. That is what happened,” Horne explained.
In the petition for declaratory judgement that Kelly’s attorneys filed in state court in Baton Rouge, it says that Kelly has not been formally terminated, and Scott Woodward did not have the authority to fire the coach. Horne says Woodward’s role was to negotiate a buyout.
“But he did have the authority to negotiate an agreement, that he could then take to the board of supervisors and have them approve or disapprove,” Horne said.
Horne says Kelly has not been formally terminated because an agreement on the size of the buyout was not reached. He says LSU’s final offer to Kelly was a $30 million buyout in two lump sums, and Kelly’s attorneys countered with $43 million.
“And LSU said, ‘Sorry, we’re not doing that. Now we’re going to probably move towards formally firing you with cause. And we have a dossier of substantial reasons why we think we can win that,"” Horne said.
It’s unknown what information LSU has on Kelly to fire him with cause. According to Kelly’s contract, they could fire him for cause over various behavioral issues, committing NCAA rules violations, crimes or serious misconduct that constitutes moral turpitude.
