Even though he was already one of the highest-paid head coaches in all of college football, LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly was accidentally paid quite a bit more last season due to a mistake that was discovered in a recent audit.
On Wednesday, LSU shared a report revealing that the school accidentally overpaid Brian Kelly by a total of $1,001,368 last year after he began receiving duplicate payments beginning last spring. According to the report, Kelly’s contract called for his pay to be sent to his LLC. However, LSU mistakenly sent payments to both Kelly directly as well as his LLC until the school noticed in November.
It’s a pretty wild mistake for such a prominent program, and the college football world had plenty to say about it on Twitter.
I understand that "We overpaid our football coach by a million bucks" is the headline here, but LSU also made like, a $140 million dollar error on their FRS report by not reporting debt from the Tiger Athletic Foundation?!? You can just…do that?https://t.co/Ht2GVHGNac
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) January 25, 2023
Brian Kelly checking his bank account: https://t.co/S9YyxcKw2t pic.twitter.com/GCrADYmSi7
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) January 25, 2023
Oops. LSU overpaid Brian Kelly by more than a million dollars. (I love the photo they found to go with this story, by the way.) https://t.co/HBjIGj9T2W
— Lori Schmidt (@LoriSchmidt) January 26, 2023
Brian Kelly playing real life Monopoly, getting that “Bank Error In Your Favor” card https://t.co/g09z8PDj4S pic.twitter.com/KQJ8t5lrCf
— Kyle Morgan CATAPULT Southwest Regional Scout (@KyleMorgan_XOS) January 25, 2023
Aside from LSU accidentally paying Brian Kelly an extra $1 million, there is this line from the audit report:
"The school’s football program generated $95.1 million last year and made a net profit of $35.7 million—a nearly 19% increase from last year." https://t.co/LF3pEShuOh
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 25, 2023
Huh. Louisiana, you say? https://t.co/AkHV07lqrx
— Bryan Mac (@Bry_Mac) January 25, 2023
It’s worth noting that Kelly will not be allowed to keep the extra $1 million.
“LSU management and the head football coach have enacted an adjusted payment schedule so the amount of overpayment will be recouped by the conclusion of fiscal year 2023,” legislative auditor Mike Waguespack wrote in the report.
According to USA Today, Kelly was the fourth-highest-paid coach in the country last season, with a 2022 total pay of $9.81 million.
