LSU athletic director Scott Woodward has found the man that he believes will lead LSU back to the top of college football.
Brian Kelly, a three-time National Coach of the Year award winner will be formally introduced as the 34th head coach in the storied history of the program at a press conference on Wednesday.
“Brian Kelly is the epitome of a winner,” 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 national titles and College Football Playoff berths. His credentials and consistency speak for themselves.”
Kelly leads all active FBS head coaches with 263 wins, and comes to Baton Rouge with a career .728 winning percentage over four previous head coaching stops at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame.
He walks into Death Valley as the most decorated coaching hire ever, and will try to become the fourth straight head coach to lead the program to a national championship.
“I could not be more excited to join a program with the commitment to excellence, rich traditions, and unrivaled pride and passion of LSU Football,” Kelly said. “I am fully committed to recruiting, developing, and graduating elite student-athletes, winning championships, and working together with our administration to make Louisiana proud. Our potential is unlimited, and I cannot wait to call Baton Rouge home.”
In 12 seasons in South Bend, Kelly became the Fighting Irish’s all-tine winningest coach, with 113 wins and just 40 losses. Since 2017, Notre Dame is 54-9. LSU has gone 45-22 during that same period.
Clearly, postseason success was a big part of Woodward’s assessment of Kelly, who has taken Notre Dame to a BCS national championship appearance in 2012, as well as College Football Playoff berths in 2018 and 2020.
Since starting his head coaching career at Division II Grand Valley State, Kelly has 13 seasons with at least 10 wins, and eight with at least 11 victories.
He has not been without his share of controversies though. The Irish were forced to vacate 21 wins from the 2012-13 seasons after the school was cited for academic misconduct.
Most notably, and tragically, 20-year-old student Declan Sullivan was killed when the hydraulic scissor lift he was on crashed while he was filming a team practice in October of 2010, which Kelly oversaw despite wind gusts that exceeded 50 mph.
Kelly also reportedly worked to keep allegations of sexual assault against Notre Dame football player Prince Shembo quiet prior to the 2014 NFL Draft.
Scott Woodward has promised and delivered big names in each of his coaching hires to this point.
Brian Kelly is certainly a big name. Whether or not he qualifies as a home run remains to be seen.
Being the winningest coach at Notre Dame doesn’t have the ring that it might have two decades ago; the Irish haven’t won a national title since 1987.
The fans and alumni that love Purple and live Gold aren’t impressed by big names; this is a program that has won championships with Les Miles and Ed Orgeron.
What fans want is consistency. Can LSU claim a spot in the rarefied air held currently by Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, or Clemson?
That’s the expectation for Kelly or whomever else the Tigers might have considered.
Brian Kelly is now the 34th man to try to live up to that expectation.