Brian Kelly has been out of the LSU job for a few months now, and he’s spent that time doing something he knows well: working the room.
After getting fired by LSU, Kelly said the move gave him more time to do what he does best. No, not the U-Haul part - though Kelly said he really did drive the moving truck after LSU booted him from the Boot. The real answer was politics.
Kelly has been on a media circuit, making his case for another chance, and he’s convinced at least one person he should get one: me.
That doesn’t mean he’s trying to win over fans. He needs an athletic director. But if I were a down-in-the-dumps Midwest school - looking at you, Wisconsin - I’d at least kick the tires.
So does Kelly actually want back in?
By his own account, yes.
“I’m in a very good position that I don’t have to coach again unless it’s the right coaching position,” Kelly told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview in April, “but I want to coach.”
He’s kept saying the same thing in later interviews, too.
That kind of public interest makes sense. Kelly can’t exactly go around saying he’s done coaching if he wants to collect the full $54 million buyout LSU owes him, since his contract includes a duty to mitigate damages. Still, there’s a difference between legal necessity and real desire, and Kelly keeps sounding like a man who wants back on the sideline.
“I want to be back coaching,” Kelly told USA TODAY. “That’s what I love to do.”
Then he added: “I could be happy being the head football coach at Harvard. I want to get in for the players and the relationships. That’s what I miss.”
Harvard already has a solid coach, but there’s probably another Ivy League school that could use a lift. Or maybe Syracuse, if you want to make the geography work a little better - a native Bostonian in Upstate New York would at least make more sense than a yank in the bayou.
The bigger question is whether Kelly still has enough left to matter.
He did fail at LSU. He won nearly 71% of his games there, but he still fell short of the school’s expectations by not making the playoff in four seasons, despite the $95 million contract.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t win enough games,” Kelly said. “That’s the bottom line.”
That’s true. But 71% would look pretty good at Wisconsin.
And LSU, in this telling, failed too - by hiring a coach it seemed to believe was something he wasn’t: a shark who wins the biggest games.
Lane Kiffin’s introduction as LSU’s coach at SEC media days Thursday served as a reminder of what the Tigers chose next, and what kind of coach fits this new era. Kelly, 64, had his peak moment in 2012, when he took Notre Dame to the national championship game.
That doesn’t make him washed. It just means he’s not a championship coach, even if he remains a good one.
With the right coordinators around him, Kelly could still help a struggling Big Ten or ACC program. He’s a reliable winner. He’s just not the kind of coach LSU hoped it was buying.
And that’s the real decision for any school now: take the proven retread, or roll the dice on the next Curt Cignetti?
This past hiring cycle, Kentucky went with hot-shot offensive coordinator Will Stein from Oregon, and three SEC schools chose up-and-coming coaches from the American Conference. Outside of LSU, no SEC school hired a coach with Power Four experience. Meanwhile, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State went the other way and hired established, accomplished coaches.
That contrast matters. The SEC keeps betting on upside and unknowns, while other leagues have shown more appetite for proven track records.
Stein even leaned into that kind of confidence at media days, saying Kentucky would become a winner “because of me, to be honest."
That’s a bold line. It has “I win. Google me” energy.
But when people Google Curt Cignetti, they see a long résumé full of wins. When they Google Will Stein, they see 0-0.
When they Google Brian Kelly, they see a coach who wins nearly three-quarters of the time - and a coach campaigning for another job.
He’s always been good at politics. Now he just needs one school to vote yes.
In Other News...
Nick Saban Weighed In On Lane Kiffin's Loaded Oxford Return
Lane Kiffins first trip back to Oxford as LSUs head coach is already drawing plenty of attention, and Nick Saban has seen enough of these homecoming-type scenes to know the temperature can rise fast. Saban, who once faced his own return to Baton Rouge after leaving LSU for Alabama, offered Kiffin some perspective on what it can feel like to walk back into a place where the fans still remember exactly how you left.
Kiffin spent six seasons at Ole Miss and helped turn the program into a playoff team before moving on to LSU, so the backdrop for this game is obvious even before kickoff. Still, Kiffin has tried to keep the focus on the season in front of him rather than the reception waiting in Oxford, leaving the biggest question around this matchup hanging until he actually gets there. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Just Put A Massive Label On LSUs New QB
Lane Kiffin has seen enough from LSUs new starting quarterback to put a serious spotlight on him before the season even gets rolling. The Ole Miss coach drew a familiar comparison when talking about Sam Leavitt, pointing to the same kind of playmaking traits that helped define one of his best quarterbacks in Oxford, while also suggesting the Tigers may have landed a passer with real NFL upside.
Leavitt arrives in Baton Rouge after transferring from Arizona State, where he helped push the Sun Devils into the College Football Playoff quarterfinals last season. Kiffin also sounded encouraged about where Leavitt stands physically after missing part of last year with a foot injury, and that combination of recovery, production and projection gives LSU plenty to watch as fall approaches. [Read more 🡒]