LSU Accidentally Overpays Head Coach Brian Kelly by $1 Million

LSU has accidentally overpaid head football coach Brian Kelly by more than $1 million, according to a public report released by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office. The report states that a total of $1,001,368 was overpaid to Kelly in the months of May and June 2022. The payments were made directly to Kelly, as well as his LLC, but were only meant to be made to his LLC.

Audit of LSU Athletic Department Finds Several Anomalies

LSU officials detected the error in November 2022 and have put an adjusted payment schedule in place to recoup the overpaid funds by the end of the 2023 fiscal year. “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,” the Legislative Auditor’s report says.

LSU discovered $1M overpayment to Brian Kelly in 2022: auditor https://t.co/LFAcaBhTM4 pic.twitter.com/yRbNIAd78t

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) January 26, 2023

Kelly, who signed a $100 million 10-year deal with LSU in November 2021, previously coached at Notre Dame for 12 years. In his first season at LSU, Kelly led the team to the SEC Championship and finished with a 10-4 record.

When Kelly initially signed his deal with the school, they arranged for his salary to be paid to him directly. Further down the line, Kelly asked that a LLC in his name be paid the salary instead, which is where the error seems to stem from.

“The report also revealed that the school misclassified nearly $6.7 million in severance payments as coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses on its Condition of Revenues and Expenses and omitted nearly $140 million in debt on its NCAA Financial Report,” states Holly Duchmann of Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.

The overpayment to Coach Kelly is a significant amount and brings attention to the financial management of the athletic department of LSU. The school has taken steps to correct the mistake, but it raises questions about how such a large error could occur in the first place.