The deflating loss to Texas A&M on Saturday proved to be the final air out of Brian Kelly’s tenure in Baton Rouge.
LSU fired its fourth-year football coach Sunday, just over a third of the way into a 10-year, $100-million contract that brought the longtime Notre Dame coach south at the end of the 2021 season.
Kelly’s buyout this season was just shy of $53.3 million, a staggering number that made his termination seem unlikely or at least challenging even as the Tigers (5-3, 2-3) dropped three of their past four games to fall from College Football Playoff hopefuls to outside of the AP and Coaches top 25 rankings in less than a month.
But officials were committed to a change and met, per sources, at multiple points Sunday over the span of several hours, including with Kelly, with details still being worked out as to the specific terms of the separation.
“When coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championship during his time in Baton Rouge,” director of athletics Scott Woodward said in a statement. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize, and I made the decision to make a change after last night’s game. I am grateful for the ongoing consultations and support of the LSU Board of Supervisors and interim president Matt Lee in this decision
“We wish coach Kelly and his family the very best in their future endeavors. We will continue to negotiate his separation and will work toward a path that is better for both parties.”
Associate head coach Frank Wilson III will serve as the program’s interim leader heading into this week’s bye.
The New Orleans native, former St. Augustine and Nicholls State running back and longtime coach around the region hold previous head coaching experience at UTSA and McNeese State.
“That’s out of my hands,” Kelly said postgame Saturday when asked about his concern for his job status. “It’s impossible for the head coach that’s been here for four years and 35 years of doing this to think anything else but ‘This is my responsibility, and we’ve got to get it turned around.’ And that’s not my decision in terms of whether I’m here or not, but that’s what I will do as a head coach that’s been doing it for over three decades. When things are not going well from a football standpoint, the head football coach has to be agile enough and able to make those changes and find out what we need to do to get our football team to play better.”
LSU invested approximately $18 million into its transfer-portal recruiting this offseason, Kelly said this August, in an effort to place final pieces for potential contention around returning stars such as quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, linebackers Harold Perkins Jr. and Whit Weeks and others.
The Tigers opened the season at No. 9 in both major polls and climbed as high as No. 4 following a 4-0 start at Clemson (3-4) and against Louisiana Tech (4-3), Florida (3-4, 2-2) and Southeastern Louisiana (6-2).
But a Week 5 loss at Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1) began Kelly and company’s slide, while the quality of early-season wins vs. Clemson and Florida lost their luster as both teams suffered their own disappointing seasons — including the Gators’ eventual firing of Billy Napier last Sunday.
“I’ve been 35 years in this business, 35, and it’s every-changing,” Kelly said Monday when asked about Napier’s dismissal. “The stakes are high. The passion is great. I don’t know that it surprises me, but, look, it’s the nature of the business that we”re in. Like I said earlier, it brings communities together, it brings states together, it brings so much hope, right? And so when there’s that much at stake, things like that do occur.
“But I’ve gotta be honest with you: I can’t take time to think about those things. I have to think about not making mistakes in the red zone and making sure that we do a good job staying on the upfield shoulder of the quarterback when we blitz off the edge into a naked boot. I’ve gotta think about those things and helping our coaches keep coaching and teaching that. And so I’m not trying to play off your question, but the reality of it is if I take a global view on all these things all day, I wouldn’t get my job done. And some are saying that I’m not getting it done now — I get that, and I get the criticism that comes with that. But we are working hard every single day to get our football team better.”
Many of the same issues that had proven costly to the Tigers in recent weeks proved embarrassing Saturday as an 18-14 halftime lead evaporated in a blink with five consecutive Texas A&M touchdowns.
LSU couldn’t protect Nussmeier from the outside with a lethal Aggies pass-rush firing past freshman tackles on islands for seven sacks, the most Kelly’s team had allowed since Nov. 12, 2022.
The Tigers couldn’t sustain a consistent rushing attack or convert third downs on offense or find a way defensively to contain, let alone affect Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed.
But worse than execution issues, LSU largely felt bullied by its visitors — whose strength and conditioning program is now headed by Tommy Moffitt, whose long tenure in Baton Rouge ended when Kelly arrived and cleaned house.
Home fans occasionally joined in “Fi-re Ke-lly” chants during the night. But Tiger Stadium had all but emptied well before the final seconds mercifully ticked off the clock with the largest remaining contingent being Aggies fans chanting, “8-0” and “El-ko,” in celebration of their undefeated start and coach Mike Elko.
“I have to evaluate everything — from top down, everything we do and how we do it, Kelly said. “And primarily on the football end of things. This is much more about the football end of things, and that involves making those decisions that will allow this football team to play at a higher level. So I have to do some work on that and come up with the solutions.”
Asked further whether that included the coaching staff, he added: “Of course. I mean, you’re going to evaluate everything. I think you have to look at everything — everything that we do offensively, everything that’s being done defensively. Special teams was atrocious. All of those things fall on me. So when it comes to the football, that’s what I have to fix. And we have to do that immediately.”
LSU officials agreed, got to work on the financial and planning elements Sunday to move on.
Kelly is the nation’s winningest active coach with 323 career victories.
His tenure with the Tigers ends with a 34-14 record, including 19-10 in the SEC and 3-0 in postseason bowls, but without a College Football Playoff appearance and with position in the conference slipping each year from a league title-game appearance in 2022 to second in the SEC West in 2023, tied for fourth in the SEC in 2024 and now outside of the top 10.
He becomes the first coach in the position since 2000 to not win a national championship: Nick Saban (2003), Les Miles (2007) and Ed Orgeron (2019).
A loss to Vanderbilt (7-1, 3-1) in Week 8 marked the program’s first since 1990, and Saturday’s loss to Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0) marked its first in Baton Rouge since 1994 — two decades before the Aggies joined the SEC.
“This is an extremely disappointing night, right?” Kelly said. “And the fan base, our fans are disappointed, like any fan base would be, whether here at LSU or any other school. The head coach, it stops with the head coach. And so that responsibility falls with me. This is a proud tradition, LSU. They have a proud football team and the guys that represent us. And, like I said, those guys — I was with ’em — they prepared their tails off this week. They expected to win. They did that by their actions in the first half. It didn’t show itself in the second half. So I have to look at the reasons why. So my focus really will be much more on inside-out than outside-in. And I get it. There should be noise. You should be disappointed. I’m disappointed.”
LSU returns to action Nov. 8 at Alabama (7-1, 5-0) before home games against Arkansas (2-6, 0-4) and Western Kentucky (6-2) and a finale Nov. 29 at Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2).
“As a proud alum, and as the current caretaker of our athletics program, I will not compromise in our pursuit of excellence, and we will not lower our standards,” Woodward said. “I continue to believe that LSU is the best football program in America and that our head coach position is among the best considering our investment, our ability to attract and retain talent, our unbelievable fans, and our institutional and statewide commitment to — and love for — LSU Football.
“We will immediately begin a national search for a new head football coach, and I am confident in our ability to bring to Baton Rouge an outstanding leader, teacher and coach, who fits our culture and community and who embraces the excellence that we demand.”