Lane Kiffin hasn’t coached a single game at LSU yet and he’s already facing questions about how he’s using the perks in his new deal.
Board of Supervisors documents show Kiffin took his family on a private jet to Boca Raton this year, and the trip cost LSU donors close to $40,000.
The money didn’t come from the school itself. It came from the Tiger Athletic Foundation, a private group that raises funds for LSU athletics.
The foundation covered the bill in March, though it’s not clear exactly when the trip happened or how long it lasted.
Kiffin’s contract gives him 65 hours of private air travel each year for personal use. That’s not something every coach gets.
Former LSU coach Brian Kelly didn’t have that benefit, and no other current LSU coach has it either. It’s a perk built specifically into Kiffin’s deal.
A benefit built into a new contract
LSU brought Kiffin in after firing Kelly during the middle of last season. The school let Kelly go in late October, and then-athletic director Scott Woodward was out shortly after that.
Kiffin and LSU agreed to terms last December, though the board didn’t give final approval on the contract until last month. How they could have gotten out of it at that point is kinda mind-numbing.
The deal runs seven years and pays Kiffin around $13 million a year, with millions more available in bonuses. That puts the total value of his contract near $91 million.
For comparison, Kelly’s deal ran 10 years at roughly $100 million, and he’s still collecting a $54 million buyout in monthly payments after LSU let him go without cause.
LSU athletics spokesman Zach Greenwell wouldn’t say how many of those 65 hours went toward the Boca Raton trip.
That city happens to be home to Florida Atlantic University, where Kiffin coached from 2017 through 2019 before he left for Ole Miss.
More trips add up over a few months
The Boca Raton flight wasn’t the only one on the books.
The same documents show the Tiger Athletic Foundation spent close to $65,000 on four other private plane trips for Kiffin between January and March of this year.
Those trips were listed as business travel, covering recruiting visits and a trip to the Texas Bowl back in December.
Kiffin’s ex-wife Layla, along with his children and a nephew, joined him on several of those business trips. Nothing in the reporting says that’s against the rules.
His contract doesn’t even require that private donors be the ones footing the bill for his travel.
Because Kiffin works for a state university, any benefit worth more than $1,000 that comes from a private group tied to the school has to be reported to the board every three months under Louisiana law.
That’s exactly how this trip became public in the first place.
None of this breaks any rule Kiffin agreed to. It’s all spelled out in his contract, and the reporting requirement is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.
But a coach who hasn’t won a game yet at his new job is now fielding questions about a family vacation.
LSU may be finding out why folks say he’s always about Lane first, then team somewhere.
It probably never dawned on him it could look awkward. Some think he still doesn’t care.
Key takeaways
- Lane Kiffin used a private jet benefit in his LSU contract for a family trip to Boca Raton that cost close to $40,000
- The Tiger Athletic Foundation, a donor-funded group, covered the cost of the trip in March and paid nearly $65,000 more for four other private flights tied to business trips from January through March
- Louisiana law requires LSU to report donor-funded benefits over $1,000 every quarter, which is how the trip came to light
