So many moving parts here....
Guvnah Kilroy is clearly pulling all the strings here.
Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Mr. Magoo can see that LSU and the Guvnah are trying to weasel out of Kelly's buyout, but have no legal grounds to do so.
The claim that Woodward didn't have the authority to fire Kelly, therefore Kelly was still employed until yesterday (when he was notified of his termination for cause) is absurd.
As others have posted, Kelly has already trashed his own reputation via numerous actions in the past. He has no fear of anything that might come out in court. On the other hand, LSU and its Athletic Department are highly likely to have dirty laundry they don't want aired.
IOW, with no reputation left to lose, Kelly wins that game of chicken.
Regarding an affair: Unless the female is under 18, it's a lot of bad things, but not illegal. In a totally unrelated discussion with University of Alabama professors a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find out that student - professor affairs no longer result in any discipline for either party.
Only if the female is under 18, or her reporting line runs through Kelly, does it become a legal issue.
Bottom Line: LSU has no case. Kelly is well-acknowledged scumbag on several fronts. Everybody including his wife and kids know that. Maybe he had an affair or several. Or maybe not. Doesn't matter either way. None of that constitutes "cause."
One of the national sports shows on Sirius had a well-respected journalist from Louisiana (I know, I know....stifle the laugh) on and he said that he had talked with Tom Mars, a well-respected and experienced collegiate sports attorney. He quoted Mars as saying that that no school had ever won a lawsuit over terminating a coach for cause.
(Side Note: Several coaches -- for example, Mike Price and Mel Tucker among others -- have been terminated for cause, voiding their buyouts. Their former employers didn't lose a suit because no suit was filed.)
The journalist also said that Kelly's suit was against the State of Louisiana. So even if Kelly wins, the Louisiana Legislature will have to allocate funds to pay the judgment. Trouble there is, the state of Louisiana already has over $350 million in unpaid judgments against it. IOW, you may win in court, but good luck collecting.
Finally, the most moronic thing about all this is that the Guvnah and LSU are fouling their own nests with any prospective coach of any competence whatsoever. If they'll do this to Kelly, publicly and with no case whatsoever, why would the candidate think they wouldn't do it to him?
IOW, it doesn't matter what the contract says. LSU and the Guvnah will not abide by it, and there's a good chance the Louisiana Legislature will shrug.
Who would walk into that mess?
www.espn.com
