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Louisiana State University

LSU's buyout for Les Miles could be $11 million, subject to interpretation

Steve Berkowitz
USA TODAY Sports

LSU’s decision about whether to fire football coach Les Miles might come down to a simple matter of recent wins and losses.

LSU coach Les Miles was fired four games into his 12th season with the school.

However, it almost certainly won’t be a simple matter of dollars and cents.

That’s because the amount of money it will cost LSU to terminate Miles without cause is potentially subject to interpretation and assuredly subject to Miles’ future endeavors.

Miles’ contract calls for him to receive $15 million if he is fired without cause by Dec. 31. However, the agreement also states that amount is to be reduced by the amount of money Miles already has received during his current contract year, which runs from Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31.

As of Monday, Miles will have been paid and/or will be owed as much as almost $4 million of the $4.3 million he is scheduled to be paid this year. That means LSU’s buyout payment to Miles could be around $11 million.

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However, Miles’ representative, George Bass, told USA TODAY Sports earlier this week his client will be owed $15 million if he’s fired before Dec. 31. If LSU were to fire Miles without cause any time during a two-year period that begins Jan. 1, 2016, the contract says the initial buyout amount would be $12.9 million.

LSU athletics department spokesman Michael Bonnette said the school had no comment.

Regardless of where the buyout would start, however, the amount of it that Miles would end up actually receiving from LSU likely would be lower — possibly a lot lower.

The agreement states that if Miles gets buyout money for being fired without cause, he “has the good faith duty and obligation to seek to obtain similar or related employment,” and that LSU’s financial obligation to him “shall be reduced … to the extent of any compensation (Miles) earns, receives or is entitled to receive from any third party” after his termination date.

Given the turnover rate of FBS head coaching jobs and the number of national TV outlets featuring big-name college football analysts, it seems hard to imagine that the colorful Miles (110-32 in 11 seasons at LSU and 138-53 in 15 seasons overall) will be out of work for long.

Then there is the amount of time over which Miles would be paid the buyout.

Unless the parties agree otherwise, their contract says, Miles would receive his money in equal monthly installments “over a period of time equal to twice the amount of time … remaining in the term” of the agreement. Since the deal is scheduled to run through Dec. 31, 2019, LSU would be able to spread its payments to Miles over an eight-year period — and the contract says the offset provision related to Miles’ income other employment would remain in force throughout that period. By contrast, Iowa State owes recently fired coach Paul Rhoads more than $4.5 million in buyout money within 60 days of termination, according to that contract. (Iowa State also will owe Rhoads a $300,000 retention payment on March 1, 2018.)

Miles’ offset provision, however, contains no language regarding the amount of money he must paid from a future job. UCLA’s contract with Jim Mora, for example, states that if Mora is fired without cause, the school’s obligation to pay him buyout money will be offset by compensation Mora gets from another coaching position. But Mora is not only required to “actively seek future employment ,” he also must “negotiate a salary which is reasonable within the context of the position being sought or accepted.”

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