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Lane Kiffin’s Money Trail: The LSU Mega Deal, Ole Miss Millions, and Other High-Paying Stops
Welcome to Gridiron Wallet — where NFL players don’t just chase rings, they chase bags. From million-dollar grills to side hustles that slap, we’re decoding how football’s finest make it, spend it, and sometimes… fumble it. 🏈🔥
The latest edition of our newsletter covers Lane Kiffin:
The LSU Contract: Lane Kiffin’s Biggest Payday
What Kiffin Made at Ole Miss
Career Earnings From Coaching Jobs Before Ole Miss
✍️Paper Play
The LSU Contract: Lane Kiffin’s Biggest Payday
Lane Kiffin is probably one of the most disliked head coaches in college football right now, and perhaps in all sports. Who, after all, leaves an 11-1 team ranked in the top 10 right before the CFP starts?
Ole Miss fans were jeering and tossing insults at him as he hopped on a private jet to leave Mississippi and head to Louisiana for his LSU introduction. And those fans were probably in the right.
But let’s not judge Kiffin too hard now. This is America, and America is all about capital. Money. And Kiffin got more than his fair share for making the move over to the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge.
Upon arrival at his new home, Kiffin signed a massive seven-year, $91 million deal that pays him $13 million a year. That puts him in second place among NCAA football coaches.
Kiffin ranks just ahead of reigning National Champion Ryan Day at Ohio State ($12.6 million) and right behind the highest-paid coach in the game right now, Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($13.3 million). That’s even more than the great Nick Saban was earning on his final contract from Alabama.
Not to mention that much of Kiffin’s monster deal is guaranteed dollars, protected by buyout clauses. That means if Kiffin is fired without cause, the school will still have to pay out at least 80 percent of whatever is remaining on his contract over several years. Not quite a Bobby Bonilla situation, but a small example of that phenomenon.
Kiffin’s contract also includes performance bonuses that would net him even more millions. That is, if he: 1) wins the SEC championship, 2) makes the College Football Playoff tournament, and 3) reaches or wins the National Championship.
The latter of those has not been accomplished at LSU since their magical 2019 run with Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and company. That would be expected of Kiffin, given the money splurged on him.
💸 Future Proof
What Kiffin Made at Ole Miss
Kiffin was already one of the highest-paid coaches in the SEC at Ole Miss. He worked for the school from 2020 to 2025, and in his latter years, he was making $9 million per annum. He also had bonuses.
What were these bonuses, you ask? In total, Kiffin could’ve made up to $2.6 million per year for hitting specific targets, such as a 10-win season, making a New Year’s Six bowl game, and qualifying for a College Football Playoff. Ole Miss had already achieved two of those three feats and was on track to reach the third.
Kiffin had his contract extended with the Rebels in 2023, then again at the beginning of last season. His new deal ran through December 31, 2031. But he decided to hit the road just two years into the extension.
From 2020 to 2021, it is estimated that Kiffin earned around $5-$6 million per year. And from 2022 to 2025, he earned $8-$9 million per year. In total, that comes out to around $38-$42 million.
It goes to show how wild money figures can get for college football coaches. Most of the time, it’s the job that nets the highest public salary per year for any person in a given state. Kiffin was that person while in Mississippi.
But now, he’s taking his coaching talents to the Bayou and will be coaching LSU next season. They just fired Brian Kelly and are looking for a new long-term head coach. This is where Kiffin steps in, having signed a whopping 7-year deal worth $91 million, making him the second-highest-paid coach in college football.
Kiffin is most likely the highest-paid public person in Louisiana as well, and with that comes a lot of pressure. We’ve seen him step in and try to take over USC in the past, with a heap of excitement around him. But he crashed and burned in four years.
That’s why it’ll be interesting to see how Kiffin fares at his new home. He was an obvious hire after firing Kelly. But only time will tell if he was the right choice, or if his messy departure from Ole Miss will come back to haunt him.
💡 Gridiron Wallet Trivia
Did you know?
🌿 In 2022, Lane Kiffin signed a contract extension with Ole Miss that pays him approximately $9 million annually, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in college football.
🏈 ✨Dream Scheme
Career Earnings From Coaching Jobs Before Ole Miss
Before his Ole Miss tenure, Kiffin had already built a substantial financial foundation. He held multiple high-paying head-coaching roles and had a stint as an NFL coordinator as well. He even benefited from some very favorable buyout-triggered guarantees in modern college football.
Kiffin’s first major financial jump came at Tennessee (2009), where he earned roughly $2 million in his lone season before abruptly leaving for USC. Considering how UT fans were threatening to burn his house down at one point after his exit, it was lucky that the program owed no buyout.
Kiffin, as it turned out, still pocketed the full year’s salary before stepping into a much bigger opportunity.
That next stop, USC (2010–2013), became the most lucrative chapter of his early career. He reportedly made around $4 million per year, and when USC fired him five games into the 2013 season, they continued paying him around $2.7 million annually for nearly two more years. It remains the single largest contributor to his pre-Ole Miss net worth.
After USC, Kiffin rebuilt his brand under Nick Saban at Alabama (2014–2016) as their OC and OB coach. Even though the role wasn’t as glamorous, it was still financially steady — between $600K and $1M annually, putting his total Bama earnings at approximately $2–3 million. The stint also restored his reputation as an elite offensive mind.
That reputation translated into his next head-coaching stop: Florida Atlantic (2017–2019). Kiffin initially made around $1.3–2 million per year. But back-to-back 11-win seasons led to extensions, bonuses, and even a $2 million housing benefit.
Add everything together, and Lane Kiffin’s estimated pre-Ole Miss career earnings are potentially north of the $20 million mark, even before the SEC money arrived.
While Lane is currently Mississippi’s No.1 enemy, it’s also hard to overlook how he has hustled for the last 15 years and climbed the ladder. So for him, the Tigers' opportunity was perhaps the final step in his CFB ladder.
📆 NFL Money Stat of 1982
The 1982 NFL players' strike shortened the season to nine games and cost players an estimated $60 million in lost salaries.