That must've been a heckuva conversation, or series of conversations, once someone finally found out.
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor's office found that LSU overpaid Brian Kelly by more than $1 million over the course of 2022.
As the report details, LSU initially paid Kelly directly once he took the head coaching position in November 2021, but in May of last year LSU's Board of Supervisors approved an agreement between the school and Kelly's camp to pay the coach's LLC. Such an arrangement is not uncommon at the highest levels of college football, and LSU began paying Kelly's LLC that month.
Only, they forgot to turn off the direct deposit to Kelly's checking account.
The report (via the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report) says LSU "management" detected the double payments in November. LSU and Kelly's camp then reached an agreement to make LSU whole without asking Kelly or his LLC to cut the school a check.
From the report:
We also found the current head football coach was overpaid $1,001,368 in supplemental payments in fiscal year 2022 (the reporting period). This was due to LSU making double payments in May and June 2022. The coach began his employment with LSU in November 2021, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in a Term Agreement between LSU and the coach. LSU made supplemental payments to the coach directly from November 2021 through April 2022. In April 2022, the Board approved an Employment and License IP Agreement by and among itself, the coach, and the coach’s LLC. The new agreement superseded the Term Agreement. In May 2022, LSU began making supplemental payments to the coach’s LLC. However, LSU also erroneously continued to make supplemental payments to the coach directly, thereby resulting in monthly double payments until LSU management detected it in November 2022. 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.
We found no other exceptions as a result of these procedures.
The report also found that LSU inaccurately reported $6.667 million payments to coaches as salary, benefits and bonuses when they were actually severance payments.
Elsewhere, the audit also reported that LSU paid $1.3 million in additional salary to football support staff upon Kelly's hiring -- on purpose -- to pay people in newly-created positions that didn't exist in the Ed Orgeron regime and to staffers who commanded higher salaries than their predecessors. The audit also reported LSU awarded $1.3 million in payments to student-athletes in the first year of Alston Awards.
All in all it seems like simple human error that was discovered, rectified and audited, as it should be.
But the amazing -- but not surprising -- thing here is that LSU could lose and Kelly could gain an extra $1 million and not notice for six months.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.