In some of his first public comments since being fired in October, former LSU football coach Brian Kelly spent an hour Friday morning discussing a bevy of topics related to his firing, his future and the state of college football on SiriusXM’s “Dusty and Danny in the Morning.”
Kelly, 64, said he has yet to decide if he wants to coach in college football again, but he plans to take visits to several college programs around the country as spring football gets underway in the coming weeks. He also plans to make visits in the fall, looking for changes in the building programs before he considers diving back in.
“If the right situation comes about and I’m ready,” he said, “I’m certainly going to entertain that.”
Kelly was dismissed during his fourth season coaching the Tigers. The university attempted to avoid paying Kelly the remainder of his coaching buyout — an estimated $53 million — leading to a lawsuit against the school. A month after his firing, the school announced it would pay him the remaining money owed.
LSU replaced Kelly with Lane Kiffin, giving the former Ole Miss coach a seven-year, $91 million contract.
“That shouldn’t happen,” Kelly said, “but it is because the money is out there.”
When the hosts mentioned the rumored $40 million roster under Kiffin, Kelly interjected with: “Over $40 (million), I’ll tell you that.”
Kelly was asked to share the emotions of being fired for the first time since becoming a head coach in 1991 at Grand Valley State.
“Let’s put it in perspective: I’ve had 33 years in this business, over 300 wins, (and I’ve) had two losing seasons in 33 years — my entire career has been built upon having some kind of success,” he said. “So when you get fired, you get told you’re not the guy for the job. You start thinking about the things that you’ve done for three decades. I don’t know that you question it, but you look carefully at why that happened. The easy answer is: I didn’t win enough games.”
Kelly said the thing that lingers most is the fact that he didn’t get to finish the job, but that didn’t take away from the shock of being fired.
“I never thought that would occur,” he said.
Kelly said one of the biggest mistakes he made during his LSU tenure was that he didn’t stay as close to offense and defense as he should have. After the Tigers went 10-4 in 2023, Kelly fired defensive coordinator Matt House and four other defensive staffers. Looking back, he questioned the move.
The seismic change didn’t end there. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock left LSU to return to Notre Dame after helping LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels win the Heisman Trophy in 2023. Kelly said Joe Sloan, who replaced Denbrock as OC, did a good job, but LSU’s offense wasn’t prolific enough.
“Not having enough continuity with the coordinators certainly put us in a position where we couldn’t make any mistakes,” Kelly said.
Kelly said through all the major staff changes, he wasn’t as involved in the decision-making process on offense and defense — a decision he now regrets.
“At the end of the day, X’s and O’s still matter,” he said.
Kelly was asked to compare the pressure of coaching a storied program like Notre Dame, where he went 92-39 in 12 years as head coach, to the big expectations in Baton Rouge.
“When I took the LSU job, it was win or go home,” he said. “It was win the national championship or go home.”
Kelly said his other stops at Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Grand Valley State were more predicated on player development over the years. At LSU, it was about roster building.
“The academic piece certainly wasn’t there (either),” he said. “This is about getting players to play at the highest level.”