TIME TO GEAUX!
Kelly checks out of ND, can’t wait to ‘call Baton Rouge home’
LSU flew newly hired coach Brian Kelly on a private jet to Baton Rouge, where he was greeted Tuesday by fans, dignitaries and the Golden Band from Tigerland after agreeing to a 10-year contract worth $95 million, plus incentives.
The hiring of Kelly — who has coached Notre Dame for the past 12 seasons and eclipsed Knute Rockne for career victories with the storied Fighting Irish — came together on Monday night in yet another blockbuster coaching move in college football.
LSU made it official on Tuesday morning. “Brian Kelly is the epitome of a winner,” LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said. “He has built and sustained success at every program he’s led, from multiple undefeated regular seasons and National Coach of the Year honors to (Division II) national titles and College Football Playoff berths. His credentials and consistency speak for themselves.”
Kelly replaces Ed Orgeron, a Louisiana native who won a national title at LSU just two seasons ago with Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Joe Burrow leading the Tigers to a 15-0 record. Orgeron has gone 11-11 since and agreed in October to a $17 million buyout that would have him step down at the end of this season.
Orgeron coached his final game last Saturday, when the Tigers upset then-No. 14 Texas A&M to finish the regular season 6-6.
Like Orgeron, Kelly is 60 but the similarities more or less end there. Orgeron is a Cajun raised in the shadow of shrimp trawlers on the Bayou Lafourche southwest of New Orleans. He was raised on LSU football and idolized the Tigers stars of the past.
Kelly came from an Irish-Catholic family in the Boston area and is bound to be far more familiar with using nut crackers to pick the meat our of a lobster claw than with sucking seasoned juices from the heads of boiled crawfish.
“Our potential is unlimited,” Kelly added. “I cannot wait to call Baton Rouge home.”
No previous Notre Dame coach has left the Irish, winners of eight AP national championships, to take a job at another school since the AP poll started in 1936. Rockne’s successor, Hunk Anderson, went from Notre Dame to North Carolina State after going 3-5-1 in 1933.
Now without Kelly, Notre Dame (11-1) remains in contention to reach the College Football Playoff for the third time in the last four years.
“Brian will not be a part of that for us,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said. “We’ve got great coordinators, and so I have every confidence that we will be fully prepared for what I hope is a CFP game, but if not, I’m certain there will be a great New Year’s Six game.”
Swarbrick said he won’t be rushed into finding a replacement for Kelly even if the Fighting Irish manage to secure a berth.
“Every search process has its own rhythm,” Swarbrick said a few hours after he and Kelly addressed players during a hurriedly called 7 a.m. meeting. “You want to do the best job you can, not the fastest job you can. We’re going to do the best job we can to find the right person to lead Notre Dame.”
Reporters were not allowed to talk with players after the meeting, but some took to social media.
“Chase the bag, business first I get it,” senior wide receiver Braden Lenzy tweeted. “Best of luck.”
“Notre Dame is still Notre Dame,” junior defensive tackle Howard Cross III tweeted. “Nothing has changed. We’re still on a mission for the National Championship.”