Louisiana Legislative Audit shows LSU overpaid Brian Kelly by over $1 million
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) - The Louisiana Legislative Auditor released the results of a recent audit of the Louisiana State University Athletic Department. The purpose of the audit was to take a look at internal controls and see if the athletic department was following NCAA rules.
Some of the findings from the audit can be found below:
- LSU misclassified $6,667,000 in severance payments as coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses on its Statement of Revenues and Expenses
- LSU understated $139,895,732 in Tiger Athletic Foundation debt on its NCAA Financial Report, which was later corrected
- LSU football coach Brian Kelly was overpaid $1,001,368 in supplemental payments in fiscal year 2022 when LSU made double payments to Brian Kelly in May and June 2022
In regards to the supplemental payments, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor said that "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 responded to the audit with this statement:
“In November 2022, LSU staff members discovered an error in payments processed for Head Football Coach Brian Kelly. Coach Kelly inadvertently received double payments over the course of several months, resulting in an overpayment. Upon the discovery of the error, LSU notified Kelly and instituted a corrective payment plan through which the university will recoup its overpayment by the end of fiscal year 2023. The matter was the fault of administrative oversight and has been rectified.”
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor stated that the athletic department made more than it spent in 2022, though most programs showed a loss.
After calculating revenues and expenses, the athletic department had an overall profit of $1,943,722 last year. Football was the primary moneymaker.
According to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, the football program brought in $95 million in revenue. Expenses of $59 million and ended the year with a $36 million balance.
Men's basketball had a $1.7 million income while women's basketball ran a $6.5 million deficit. Other sports combined for a $22.9 million deficit.
A copy of the full audit can be found here.