Rece Davis reacts to Brian Kelly, LSU buyout dispute: 'You really want this thing to be that ugly?'

Former LSU head coach Brian Kelly‘s legal team filed suit earlier this week to recoup his full $54 million buyout. That came amid alleged efforts by the LSU Board of Supervisors to reframe Kelly’s Oct. 26 firing as a “for cause” move after negotiations broke down last week.

According to the suit, which was obtained by On3‘s Pete Nakos, LSU held a conference call with Kelly on Monday to reveal that the program believes it has the grounds for a “for cause” firing in an effort to avoid paying Kelly’s hefty buyout. Kelly was hastily fired one day after the Tigers’ embarrassing 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 25.

The lawsuit also alleges LSU claims it did not “formally terminate” Kelly. That is because now-former Tigers AD Scott Woodward did not have “the authority to terminate Coach Kelly and/or make settlement offers to him” in October, days before his own termination under pressure from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry.

ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis and insider Pete Thamel both admonished LSU for taking this tack. The duo suggests the Tigers simply write a check and close the door on the failed Kelly tenure in Baton Rouge.

“I just don’t think this is the way to go about this. Because this is one of those things you want to go away. Once you make the decision (to fire Kelly), make it go away,” Davis said on Wednesday’s episode of the College GameDay Podcast with co-host and ESPN insider Pete Thamel. “Instead, … you think he’s just going to walk away and leave this money on the table without fighting back? You know him. I just think that this is one of those things that you need to make go away. Pay him his money, come to an agreement, do something and move on. … Do you really want this to be that ugly?”

Pete Thamel: ‘If they wanted to fire him for cause, they messed it up in every possible way’

Apparently so, at least based on the narrative in Kelly’s lawsuit, which included communications between Kelly’s legal representatives to LSU reps alleging Kelly was told someone from the governor’s office would reach out to discuss the terms of his buyout. Landry made headlines the day after Kelly’s firing for press conference comments declaring Woodward would not be involved in the hiring of LSU’s next head coach, while calling Kelly’s buyout a “$53 million liability.”

Landry’s alleged involvement in this legal back-and-forth didn’t come as a surprise to Thamel.

“In the long history of schools trying to weasel out of contracts they signed – and that’s what this is, it’s a straight weaseling. They didn’t give the seven-day notice … if you read the legal document, you laugh because you’re like ‘Wow.’ If they wanted to fire him for cause, they messed it up in every possible way,” Thamel added. “They’ve acknowledged it all. It’s like when you’re playing on the playground in junior high, they tried to do a take-back, a do-over. A do-over firing. … Everyone who has tried to do this legally has genuinely failed. … And my understanding is this is all politically-motivated, … so there’s been a pretty resounding chorus of laughter towards the governor’s mansion and the Board people trying to be cute and do this. It will not work and they’ll eventually realize that.”

— On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this report.