As President Donald Trump continues working with politicians and sports figures on how to properly navigate the revised college athletics landscape, former LSU football coach Brian Kelly may inadvertently have given Trump more ammunition.
During a March 6 appearance on Sirius XM’s “Dusty and Danny in the Morning,” Kelly claimed that the Tigers are paying over $40 million to their roster. That’s after LSU committed $54 million to cover Kelly’s buyout — the Tigers fired Kelly last October — and giving former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin a seven-year, $91 million deal to coach the Tigers.
“That shouldn’t happen, but it is because the money is out there,” Kelly said of Kiffin’s contract.
Neither Kiffin nor LSU had responded to Kelly’s comments at publication.
Brian Kelly just told us on @SXMCollege that Lane Kiffin’s current roster at LSU is over $40 million 👀
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) March 6, 2026
Although news of LSU’s alleged $40 million roster might not immediately matter to sports fans, it’s relevant because Trump is currently trying to intervene and address the growing imbalance among college football teams. Because college athletics do not have a salary cap or unions, teams can spend as much as they can afford on rosters without consequences.
The White House hosted a “Saving College Sports” roundtable event on Friday afternoon, alongside vice chairs Secretary of State Marco Rubio, New York Yankees president Randy Levine, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The amount of money being spent and lost by otherwise very successful schools is astounding,” Trump said.
LSU plays in the SEC, and University of Georgia President Jere Morehead, Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey were the current SEC-affiliated figures in attendance. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and ex-Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer also attended; Saban, who won seven national championships before retiring after the 2023 season, coached at LSU from 2000–04.
College football’s most decorated head coach Nick Saban spoke at the White House on Friday at a college sports roundtable hosted by President Trump.
Saban called on lawmakers to fix issues he has seen at the collegiate level, where Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals have… pic.twitter.com/cFN4QVaT2i
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 7, 2026
“We need to come up with a system to allow student athletes in all sports, including women’s and Olympic sports, to enhance their quality of life, while going to college — but still provide opportunity to advance themselves beyond their athletic career,” Saban said during the event.
The NCAA prohibited college athletes (or student-athletes, as the NCAA and its schools would rather them be called) from profiting off their name, image, and likeness until a 2021 Supreme Court ruling. The introduction of NIL also allowed EA Sports to resume producing its popular college football video game, which had last been released in 2013 before a series of likeness-related lawsuits involving the NCAA.
EA Sports released “College Football 25” in July 2024, with a follow-up edition released last July. For the first time in franchise history, the game had real-life players, who were compensated for appearing in the game; EA Sports previously had fictional versions of each player, meaning that an LSU player who wore No. 2 would be in the game as “QB No. 2” or something similar.
Last year’s game added real coaches, including Kiffin and Kelly. The next game, which will likely be titled “College Football 27,” is expected to come out this summer.
