Matt McMahon’s third season has not gone according to plan.
His Tigers sit at 1-8 in SEC play after a brutal loss to Ole Miss in which LSU led by 11 with less than three minutes to play. That collapse came on the heels of a 31-point home loss to Texas and a 19-point road defeat to Georgia. Both of those teams are 4-7 in SEC play.
Though many knew the challenges McMahon faced when taking the LSU job, NCAA sanctions are in the rearview, and the Tigers are staring at a possible last place SEC finish.
Is that enough to make a change?
The financial burden is significant. McMahon is owed 80 percent of his base salary upon termination without cause. He’s set to make $2.5 million in 2025-26, escalating $100,000 every year through 2028-29 when he would make $2.8 million.
Eighty percent of McMahon’s remaining compensation as of July 1, 2025, would be $8.48 million. Being that a move would likely be made in March with three months of his 2024-25 salary still on the books, call it just north of $8.5 million to buy out one coaching staff and somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million per year to hire a new one.
And that would be for a lateral move. Nate Oats and Bruce Pearl both make more than $5 million annually, and by the end of Oats’s deal he will be north of $7 million per year.
That’s a significant ask of a booster base which is already spending $100 million on a head football coach and reportedly millions on the athletes themselves.
Money doesn’t guarantee success, but in this era of collegiate athletics, it’s a crucial element.
Right now, LSU is not spending to the level the elite programs in the conference are. To make a change, either with the coach or with the product, that will have to happen.
