Brian Kelly has surprised the college football world with a very ‘non Brian-Kelly’-esque move. The former head coach accepted a role as an unpaid analyst for the Memphis Tigers, leading many folks to assume that LSU would finally be relieved of the financial burden of paying his $54 million buyout. Unfortunately for the Tigers, this clever career move won’t change a single thing. Brian Kelly is playing the game of ‘two steps ahead’.

Even though Brian Kelly took a new football job that pays absolutely nothing, it doesn’t save the university a single cent. Because his new salary is exactly zero dollars, there is no money to subtract from the debt LSU owes him. It sounds crazy, but it all comes down to the strict legal wording in the contract LSU originally signed.

When elite college coaches get fired, their contracts usually include a rule called a “duty to mitigate.” This just means the coach has to make an honest effort to find a new job in football. If they get hired and start making money, their old school can subtract that new salary from the buyout money. For example, if a coach gets a new job making $4 million a year, their old school gets a $4 million “discount”.

But, Kelly officially took a job as an unpaid football consultant at Memphis, which fulfills his ‘good-faith efforts’ requirement to look for work. However, because LSU doesn’t have a minimum salary requirement in the original contract, working for free is completely allowed.

Notably, University officials and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry initially attempted a hardball tactic, hinting they might fire Kelly “with cause” for misconduct to wipe out the debt entirely. They apparently even attempted to offer smaller, lump-sum settlements of $25 million and $30 million.

Kelly’s team, instead, fired back with a legal filing. They argued that LSU’s conduct was hurting Kelly’s career. Ultimately, LSU officially signed a binding settlement confirming Kelly was fired without any cause whatsoever.

And now, the program is stuck making some of the most painful monthly payments in sports history. Every single month until December 2031, the university has to wire Kelly roughly $750,000.

So, currently Kelly gets to stay involved in college football while getting every single penny of his historic $54 million buyout.

However, at the same time, Brian Kelly will not be inside first-year head coach Charles Huff’s circle.

Brian Kelly looking from the outside in?

First-year head coach Charles Huff said he will talk to Kelly more toward the end of the season, when Memphis focuses on recruiting and building its 2027 team through the transfer portal.

Following an 8-5 season that ended in the Gasparilla Bowl, Memphis replaced head coach Ryan Silverfield with Charles Huff. Huff has a proven track record as a rebuilder, having previously turned around programs at Southern Miss and Marshall. He faces a significant immediate challenge: the Tigers are returning only one starter from last year’s roster, meaning the team will look completely different when they take the field.

It is interesting that Huff is not planning to lean on Brian Kelly during the season. Their goal is to bring in strong talent and move up to the Power 4 level. Huff also said Kelly has been humble and helpful in their conversations.

Kelly is not involved in on-field coaching or game-day strategy (the “Xs and Os”). Instead, he is helping Huff restructure Memphis’s recruiting department to function more like an NFL scouting department. This includes establishing metrics to evaluate “tweener” prospects who have un-coachable traits but might be overlooked by schools with larger budgets.

Kelly is also not the only high-profile sounding board Huff has assembled. The Memphis coach has built an informal advisory network that also includes former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and former Texas coach Charlie Strong.

Because Kelly is serving purely as an informal volunteer, Memphis is not paying him. This setup allows Kelly to fulfill his desire to network and prepare for future head coaching openings without interfering with the ongoing multi-million dollar buyout obligations owed to him by LSU.

Needless to say, Kelly is clearly trying to stay involved and rebuild his image for a potential future return to coaching.