This is 5 years old, my memory is not that good, but my recollection is that they absolutely did go ask for modifications to his contract during or immediately after that season. Swarbrick shut it down completely and said absolutely not, we're not negotiating on this, we expect you to keep coaching under the deal you signed. Which yeah, absolutely makes sense considering they had just done that song and dance a year ago, why would you entertain that again?
Your links and information have me strongly questioning my "99.9%" claim but that's what I remember... I remember someone telling me that his agent had asked for more money / more guarantee at some point that year and Swarbrick refused to play ball. And what he ultimately signed at LSU was nowhere close to what ND was willing to offer him under any circumstance, so it was a moot point on ND keeping him if that was what somewhere else was willing to offer him.
Yeah this is true. But also, agents operate in a gray area, and the whole point of having representation is that they can call your employer. Like there is always the threat of you leaving, that's where the leverage comes from. They say stuff like "hey I've gotten some calls, we aren't entertaining these overtures right now, but we need to talk about compensation because we're below the market rate for my client." Kelly renegotiated deals multiple times over his tenure at ND -- for both positives and negatives -- and the last deal he signed I think Swarbrick intended it to be the last one he ever did with Kelly.
