When Ed Orgeron was let go as LSU's head coach on Oct. 18, 2021, he joked, "I think I'm going to have enough money to buy me a hamburger. And every once in awhile — maybe a double meat cheeseburger from Sonic.”
LSU was the Larose, La., native's dream job, but he was in such a good mood despite getting let go a season and a half removed from the 2019 national title run because he was fired without cause, meaning LSU paid out the full guarantee owed to him on his contract. "I said, 'What time do you want me to leave and what door do you want me out of, brother?'" Orgeron recalled telling LSU AD Scott Woodward upon learning he was owed $17.1 million to leave.
Now nearly four years removed from that date, Kelly Orgeron can afford a her own double meet cheeseburger as well.
The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday ruled the former Mrs. Orgeron is owed $8.13 million of Coach O's buyout. The ruling came after two lower courts ruled on Ed's behalf.
The crux of the issue is the timing in which Orgeron signed his post-2019 contract extension and when the couple filed for divorce. Orgeron signed the term sheet on Jan. 14, 2020, and then filed for petition to divorce a month later. LSU officially approved Orgeron's extension that April.
The question then became whether the "binding term sheet" Orgeron signed in January was marital property or merely, as Orgeron's side argued and the lower courts agreed, merely an "agreement to agree" on an extension. By a 5-2 majority decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that it was.
"The coach, and his wife, were given the comfort, the assurance, the confidence, and the peace of mind, that even if his coaching was terribly unsuccessful, or even if for other reasons that could not be labeled as 'for cause,' he would not do so empty handed... Because this security blanket was provided for in the Employment Agreement, effective during the community, it was community property as it would be any other asset," Justice Jefferson Hughes wrote for the majority.
Orgeron's lawyer argued his extension was for work he was to do in the future, following the dissolution of the marriage. Kelly Orgeron's attorneys argued the extension was a reward for past performance. "The issue in this case is uncomplicated. All of the sums Mr. Orgeron received post-community... were received for work he performed after the termination of the community property regime. It is all his separate property," Justice Jay McCallum wrote in an 11-page dissent.
Orgeron, 63, has not coached since his 2021 dismissal.