When former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly left the Fighting Irish for the LSU Tigers following the 2021 college football season, I am sure he didn’t envision he would be dealing with unemployment less than five years later. Revered for bringing back stability to the Notre Dame program, by some anyway, Kelly’s tenure in Baton Rouge did not live up to expectations.
Kelly’s tenure with LSU ended with a 34-14 overall record. After some early success with the Tigers, it quickly became clear that the biggest issues with Kelly hadn’t been figured out, most notably his team preparation in big games. Heading into the 2025 season, LSU spent a lot of money in the transfer portal, setting up for what many believed was going to be a big season. After a 5-3 start to the year, the program decided that this tenure wasn’t going in the right direction.
With Kelly now working in the shadows, there is a major question about what could be in his coaching future. When Kelly was on the radio with Dusty Dvoracek and Danny Kanell last week, he was asked about that potential return. Kelly is clearly working behind the scenes to get back to a sideline in the near future, as long as some things in college football change.
Brian Kelly on his coaching future
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know that I’ve made the decision that I want to get back in as all the things that we’ve talked about,” Kelly said. I’d want to see some changes. But I think while you wait, you need to work and so I need to stay in the game…