Earlier this year, LSU football coach Brian Kelly spoke at an event organized by Bayou Traditions, the athletic department’s official name, image and likeness collective. Kelly touched on the direction of the team and new staff hires, delivering what amounted to a state of the program address for some of the school’s biggest donors.
During his speech, Kelly discussed his philosophy for how to build and maintain a roster in the NIL era. Kelly believes in recruiting high school prospects and retaining them, then adding transfers when necessary to fill holes. To emphasize his point, he referenced the New England Patriots.
The Patriots ranked last in the NFL in cash spending over the past 10 years at $1.62 billion, according to ESPN’s Roster Management System. They won three Super Bowls and played for another during that span, maintaining their dynasty until they missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons. Kelly used the franchise’s approach to money as an example.
“You don’t have to spend the most to be the best,” he said, according to multiple people in attendance.
LSU football does spend, a necessity to remain competitive. Bayou Traditions budgeted $8 million for the roster this season, though it is not expected to reach that number, according to a source with knowledge of the collective who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely. Last year, the third-party group allocated around $4 million for the team.
“We've got a number that we think that we are comfortable with,” Kelly told The Advocate before spring practice. “Some others will be a little bit higher than we are, but they're operating in a different way.”
Jason Belzer, whose company Student Athlete NIL helps operate 62 Division I collectives, including those at Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, said the median amount that SEC collectives will spend on football teams next season is $10 million. He estimated the top end will be $13-15 million, while the median throughout the Power Four conferences will be $4.5 million.
In this era, LSU football has functioned with less NIL money than some of its peers because of philosophy and fundraising. The staff has resisted overpaying what it perceives as market value, and while Bayou Traditions increased its funds over the past year, it does not have as much as some rivals and needs to tap into another potential revenue source to be sustainable.
“There is no perfect model,” LSU senior associate athletic director for football administration Austin Thomas said. “It's no different than the NFL. Those organizations all build their roster and their teams differently, and the construction of those looks different on every NFL franchise, right? I think the biggest piece to all of this is, you have to understand who you are first.”
In January, Thomas returned to LSU after two years as Ole Miss football’s chief of staff. Though in attendance for Kelly’s opening news conference, Thomas was not retained amid the 2021 coaching change. In Oxford, Thomas helped oversee contracts, budgets, hires, roster management, personnel, NIL and scheduling.
Back at LSU for the third time, Thomas has many of the same responsibilities. He functions as the football team’s general manager while participating in administrative tasks, possibly helping him reach his goal of becoming an athletic director. Thomas said he takes direction from Kelly and LSU athletic director Scott Woodward.
While Thomas’ duties are similar to the ones at Ole Miss, the teams construct their rosters through different methods. Ole Miss has leaned on the transfer portal, signing 46 freshmen and 61 transfers over the past three cycles. LSU added 16 transfers the first year under Kelly and seven so far this offseason, gradually pulling away from the portal as it builds the roster.
“For us, we have to go out and evaluate and identify the right people and right fit for us and then recruit those guys here and retain them,” Thomas said. “Retention is the biggest key in all of this, in my opinion. At LSU, we're gonna lay that foundation through that high school recruiting base and then supplement it where we may need in other areas.”
LSU believes that approach offers an advantage because of the talent in Louisiana, a state with the second-most NFL players per capita last year behind Georgia. It wants to recruit local areas and neighboring states, then search nationwide for certain positions. In the 2024 cycle, 26 of the Tigers’ 29 signees came from Louisiana, Texas or Mississippi.
The approach has continued in the upcoming 2025 class. Eleven of the 12 committed prospects are from the same three states, with five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood (Michigan) being the only exception. The group is ranked No. 3 nationally, according to the 247Sports composite, which Thomas partially contributed to relationships and trust.
“We're able to get guys that want to be here and want to be part of it,” Kelly said. “It's not that they're taking a hometown discount, but they want to be here. It's not like you're trying to get them from California, and then you've got to pay for all the expenses and family to visit, and then that NIL goes up and up and up and up.”
Instead of spending heavily in the transfer portal, LSU has directed its money toward freshmen and players who stayed in the program. It invests in those who stood out through their performance and actions, trying to keep talent on the roster. Players can also earn money through separate endorsement deals, and LSU tries to provide education on how to market themselves.
“For us, it comes down to, how do we strategically want to allocate our NIL package?” Thomas said. “That comes mostly in the retention of our roster. What happens is, you have to be very careful to not get too far out in front of yourself, where the value of a player or certain players on your roster becomes so inflated that you can't catch up with the rest of your roster, and all of a sudden it becomes a runaway train and it's not sustainable.”
But after spring practice, LSU had to look in the transfer portal for defensive tackles, a depleted position after the team could not retain starters Maason Smith and Mekhi Wingo amid a defensive staff overhaul.
The Tigers targeted TCU transfer Damonic Williams and Michigan State transfer Simeon Barrow. Belzer said Williams’ market value would have been around $400,000 in the December transfer portal window, but low supply and high demand in the spring raised prices. Williams and Barrow both asked for seven-figure deals, multiple sources said, numbers that LSU did not come close to matching.
“We will pay players, and we can afford to do so,” the source close to the collective said, “But the player's philosophical mindset has to align with the coaches for us to be willing to do so.”
Bayou Traditions had enough money to meet their asking price, the source said, but it did not offer that much because of the amount of eligibility they have left (Williams two years, Barrow one) and concerns those deals would have upset locker room chemistry. Williams chose Oklahoma, Barrow picked Miami and LSU stuck to its philosophy.
“There's a bigger picture to all of this,” Thomas said. “It doesn't come down to one player, right? It comes down to a holistic, comprehensive approach that if you mismanage the funding and you go ahead and you overspend in some areas on your team, how do you come back and build the rest of your roster around that, because word goes around, right? All of a sudden, you can have a lot of issues.”
Those close to Bayou Traditions emphasized it has the funds to compete with other teams. Thomas said "our collective is very healthy." A source added the group now has close to 1,000 members after improving its donor base over the past year, but admitted it needs to do a better job of crowdfunding, an area where Ole Miss and Auburn have thrived.
Bayou Traditions has contribution options that range from $20 to $100 per month, but without a strong marketing presence and inconsistent messaging, it has not captured the average fan. Ole Miss' collective had approximately 6,000 members as of February 2024, according to 247Sports.
In February, R.C. Porter struggled to donate $50 a month to Bayou Traditions after getting a new credit card. Porter, a retired intelligence officer who lives in Virginia, wanted to give something. He sent four emails asking the collective for help before receiving a response last week.
“Because of what I went through,” Porter said, “I don't intend to donate now unless they get new management.”
A potential solution could come soon. Sources said Bayou Traditions is expected to launch a fundraiser Wednesday in which two anonymous donors agreed to match up to $2 million in donations. If successful, the initiative would establish new members and give the collective an influx of cash, which helps fund multiple teams on campus.
“We're trying to lower the barriers to entry, so to speak, and just let the everyday person who just wants to give $50 a month, just be able to help and feel a part of it,” said personal injury attorney Gordon McKernan, whose firm is a corporate sponsor of Bayou Traditions. “Once the average fan comes to the collective, I think everything changes and it becomes much wider, much deeper, much healthier.”
The current setup could soon change. Under an amended law being considered by the state Legislature, Louisiana college employees would be allowed to “participate in name, image and likeness endeavors directly.” The NCAA said schools can facilitate deals beginning Aug. 1 for players who disclose their NIL deals, so LSU could bring the operation in-house. Conversations about how that would work remain ongoing.
Another seismic change in college sports — revenue sharing — looms on the horizon, but some believe collectives and NIL could still influence rosters without guardrails. Belzer predicted “the collective dollars will be the ones that separate those that have and those that aren't” as the differentiator on top of the base pay players would receive from schools.
For now, LSU intends to stick to its approach, focusing on talent in the surrounding area and the belief that development and retention will create a successful football program.
“If we were not recruiting in the state of Louisiana, if we were somewhere else that didn't have this base, we'd have to have more money,” Kelly said. “We have such a great base here. We're able to make it work better with this kind of philosophy. So we stretch our dollars more this way.”
