LSU · SECBrian Kelly questions proposed $5 million coaching cap
The former LSU coach says the measure could limit how programs hire established coaches and reshape long-term contracts.
SEP 24, 2026
Proposed annual coaching cap
Kelly’s reported salary before his LSU firing
Coaching career Kelly cited
01 · The NewsBrian Kelly questions proposed $5 million coaching cap
Brian Kelly questioned a proposed $5 million annual salary cap for college football coaches, saying U.S. senators’ amendment to the Protect College Sports Act would treat veteran coaches like newcomers to the profession.
Kelly said his objection comes from the decades it took him to reach the top of the profession.
“Well, I think it’s apples and oranges. Let’s just take my situation. You know where I didn’t make any money, you know at Grand Valley State … my wife and I were trying to balance the budget at Central Michigan. We had more going out than coming in, and that’s 15 years in. Not three or four or five years. That’s 15. Now I go to Cincinnati and we make some money at Cincinnati. But now that’s 19 years in it before I got to Notre Dame, and then you’re there another 13. I’m 35 years in. I don’t think I should be in the same position as an 18 year old. I did my work, working my way up through the ranks and building equity, and I think that’s where I differ on that end of it, you know, in terms of coaches and capped,” Kelly said on College Sports Radio on Sirius XM.
The amendment’s treatment of existing contracts is not clear, and it is not known whether the proposal will advance. Kelly is now a college football analyst for CBS Sports and hosts a radio show on Sirius XM.
“You’ll lose, obviously, those that want to make it a career,” Kelly said. “So if you’re going to term limit the coaches then I think that’s fair but if you’re going to develop coaches through the ranks to be great mentors to be there for their players, when they need the things that they need growing up as young men, then I think it’s hard to to cap the coaches.”
02 · The StakesWhy It Matters
Kelly made a reported $9.4 million in the year before LSU fired him, nearly twice the proposed limit. If the cap becomes law, schools could face new restrictions when hiring and retaining established head coaches, while the long-term contracts and buyouts attached to those jobs could be reshaped.
“You’ll lose, obviously, those that want to make it a career”
Brian Kelly, on College Sports Radio on Sirius XM03 · The Watch ListWhat We're Watching
Does the proposal advance?
The story says it is not known whether the proposal will advance.
Would existing contracts be covered?
The amendment’s treatment of existing contracts is not clear.