Brian Kelly
By Chris Marler
Remember seven or eight months ago when the sky was falling on LSU football and Brian Kelly?
Brian Kelly failed to reach ten wins for the first time in eight years. Then came a string of high-profile recruiting losses, starting with No. 1 overall prospect Bryce Underwood, who chose another program after a high-stakes bidding war with a billionaire. LSU also lost two more five-stars: Kade Phillips, a former commit who flipped to Texas, and Jahkeem Stewart, the New Orleans native who chose USC.
Vibes were low. The jeers were loud. The seat wasn’t hot, but it definitely wasn’t as cool as it was after what felt like a signature win over Ole Miss in October just months before.
Part of being successful in anything really, but especially the world of coaching college football, is weathering the storm. Losses come, players go. The only real way to win, and win consistently, is to work. And, that’s exactly what Brian Kelly has done.
From the beginning it felt like people outside of Baton Rouge, and even some in it, wanted him to fail. There was the idea that the game’s winningest active coach was somehow a fraud. He had failed on the biggest stage a few times and was coming from a school that most SEC fan bases equally hated and disrespected. But his biggest offense? He wasn’t from here.
People hate change, but not as much as they hate Notre Dame or being wrong.
Kelly has definitely had his share of bad PR and cringey social media moments. Personally, I am still not over him dancing with Walker Howard in front of that 360 degree camera that all my friends keep insisting to have at their weddings. That being said, we did all collectively move past the weird southern accent thing when he was first hired.
Got my coach! 🐯🐯 @CoachBrianKelly pic.twitter.com/j0nurt5sMa
— Walker Howard (@Walker_Howard4) December 13, 2021
Kelly has moved on from both. His focus has been on working and then working some more, which has led to collecting win after win after win.
Kelly closed last season with a top-10 recruiting class, then followed it by landing a top-three transfer portal haul, thanks to newfound NIL momentum sparked by Bryce Underwood. He brought in nine top-100 portal players and built the most talented roster he’s had since arriving in Baton Rouge.
Then, he worked on his 2026 recruiting class. On Thursday, he added the biggest piece of it despite being five months away from signing day. Kelly kept Lamar Brown at home, as the Baton Rouge native and University Lab five-star chose the Tigers over many other offers and, more importantly, NIL deals.
Now Kelly sits and waits for the 50 days to pass until the 2025 season kicks off. He does so with the most talented roster he’s ever had, another top ten recruiting class, and a laundry list of receipts from people begging for him to fail.
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