Brian Kelly

[23andCounting]

1 hour ago, Bash Riprock said:

I can't see Penn State going anywhere near him.  They'd be way better off with a rising, younger coach.  

They could bring back this "superstar" 🤪

Is it just me or are some of the programs jumping the gun in firing guys like Franklin and Kelly? Seems to me like everyone has their panties in a wad now wanting the next Curt Cignetti. Good luck finding that diamond in the rough. Good luck finding that mid major guy who can make noise at the Power 4 level. Good luck to the successful offensive or defensive coordinator at making the jump to head coach. It's a crapshoot. Many of done it and failed. No different than playing a slot machine. Penn State, LSU, and Florida are just as well off going after Kyle Ralph as they are anyone else in this massive crap shoot. 

Tom Allen? Lmao. Nice guy, but..................

[PDB26]

13 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

Is it just me or are some of the programs jumping the gun in firing guys like Franklin and Kelly? Seems to me like everyone has their panties in a wad now wanting the next Curt Cignetti. Good luck finding that diamond in the rough. Good luck finding that mid major guy who can make noise at the Power 4 level. Good luck to the successful offensive or defensive coordinator at making the jump to head coach. It's a crapshoot. Many of done it and failed. No different than playing a slot machine. Penn State, LSU, and Florida are just as well off going after Kyle Ralph as they are anyone else in this massive crap shoot. 

Tom Allen? Lmao. Nice guy, but..................

Penn State is out of their minds delusional to cut Franklin loose. LSU, I think not.

[23andCounting]

49 minutes ago, PDB26 said:

Penn State is out of their minds delusional to cut Franklin loose. LSU, I think not.

So Brian Kelly can win with a bunch of smart kids, but not so much with a bunch of pure athletes? Is this a Brian Kelly thing? Maybe he had better support from the ND administration than he did at LSU? Or maybe he had better luck at picking his assistants and ND than he did LSU? Just trying to get to the root cause as to why he was successful and ND but not LSU. 

[Bash Riprock]

1 hour ago, 23andCounting said:

Is it just me or are some of the programs jumping the gun in firing guys like Franklin and Kelly? Seems to me like everyone has their panties in a wad now wanting the next Curt Cignetti. Good luck finding that diamond in the rough. Good luck finding that mid major guy who can make noise at the Power 4 level. Good luck to the successful offensive or defensive coordinator at making the jump to head coach. It's a crapshoot. Many of done it and failed. No different than playing a slot machine. Penn State, LSU, and Florida are just as well off going after Kyle Ralph as they are anyone else in this massive crap shoot. 

Tom Allen? Lmao. Nice guy, but..................

Just kidding about TA....was having fun.  But, the man did recruit Omar Cooper....and IU today must be incredibly grateful.

[23andCounting]

10 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

Just kidding about TA....was having fun.  But, the man did recruit Omar Cooper....and IU today must be incredibly grateful.

I like Tom Allen, great guy for sure. Just not someone I'd invest more than $750,000 to run my program is all. 

[Sailors]

41 minutes ago, 23andCounting said:

So Brian Kelly can win with a bunch of smart kids, but not so much with a bunch of pure athletes? Is this a Brian Kelly thing? Maybe he had better support from the ND administration than he did at LSU? Or maybe he had better luck at picking his assistants and ND than he did LSU? Just trying to get to the root cause as to why he was successful and ND but not LSU. 

Compare the ND schedule to LSU's. Not close in comparison with regards to SOS.

[Bash Riprock]

41 minutes ago, Sailors said:

Compare the ND schedule to LSU's. Not close in comparison with regards to SOS.

you are correct...according to ESPN, LSU ranked #3; ND 30th

However, in 2024 ND was #4, LSU 14th

[23andCounting]

42 minutes ago, Sailors said:

Compare the ND schedule to LSU's. Not close in comparison with regards to SOS.

The whole idea was that if you do at Notre Dame with the resources he had, he could certainly do the same at LSU with the resources they would provide him. All I'm saying is his tenure could have come down to two things. First, maybe the administration at Notre Dame is just better than LSU's when it comes to running a football program. Or second, his luck ran out at LSU and surrounding himself with talented assistants. Unlike Cignetti, Kelly didn't bring his whole staff to LSU. If he did, he'd probably be a championship coach there. 

5 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

you are correct...according to ESPN, LSU ranked #3; ND 30th

However, in 2024 ND was #4, LSU 14th

It's all relative. Better players at LSU should be able to handle a tougher schedule, right? Pretty sure that was the idea from the beginning. 

[PDB26]

2 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

So Brian Kelly can win with a bunch of smart kids, but not so much with a bunch of pure athletes? Is this a Brian Kelly thing? Maybe he had better support from the ND administration than he did at LSU? Or maybe he had better luck at picking his assistants and ND than he did LSU? Just trying to get to the root cause as to why he was successful and ND but not LSU. 

The root is that he’s a poor leader whose style works to narrow his team’s margin for success because he can’t be bothered to develop relationships with people. He’s more committed to grinding his golf swing than he is to grinding on the recruiting trail—regardless of what some video evidence might suggest. So, he’s a ball busting bad leader who doesn’t recruit or develop relationships who took a job with some of the highest institutional expectations in a league where the margins at the top have been flattened to the point that Vandy is flirting with success.

The margins weren’t as tight at ND, and they never had success against the top flight teams. SC was basically a non factor for his entire run there. 

[Coach Nowlin]

Why are you all slaves to the "Star Ranking System" still?  

It is a few jabroni's who claim they know what is going on watching some game tape, some combine works, some all star 7 on 7 teams and then they wait to see what schools offer earliest then give them the ole "insert subjective number" STAR

Cam Ward....#1 Pick NFL draft was 0 STAR HS kid.   

List is bountiful..... 

Who ranks the rankers? 

It is impossible to have a legit ranking system to watch all these high school athletes and determine their "STAR" ranking.....

[23andCounting]

1 hour ago, PDB26 said:

The root is that he’s a poor leader whose style works to narrow his team’s margin for success because he can’t be bothered to develop relationships with people. He’s more committed to grinding his golf swing than he is to grinding on the recruiting trail—regardless of what some video evidence might suggest. So, he’s a ball busting bad leader who doesn’t recruit or develop relationships who took a job with some of the highest institutional expectations in a league where the margins at the top have been flattened to the point that Vandy is flirting with success.

The margins weren’t as tight at ND, and they never had success against the top flight teams. SC was basically a non factor for his entire run there. 

Brian Kelly made Notre Dame relevant again after a twelve year absence. He posted seven 10+ win seasons and finished in the Top 10 four times in his ten years there. He was 118-35-2 at D2 Grand Valley State with two national championships. I think you're going to struggle with the "poor leader" argument. 

[PDB26]

2 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

Brian Kelly made Notre Dame relevant again after a twelve year absence. He posted seven 10+ win seasons and finished in the Top 10 four times in his ten years there. He was 118-35-2 at D2 Grand Valley State with two national championships. I think you're going to struggle with the "poor leader" argument. 

I’ll never diminish what Brian Kelly accomplished at ND. He fought hard against the administration and is due credit for dragging ND into becoming a modern program. His were the first consistently competent and competitive teams at ND that I didn’t have just fuzzy memories of. His teams also regularly failed to rise to the occasion when it mattered most, and often met subpar competition head on even though they often prevailed. “Winning is hard,” was the refrain.

Maybe he isn’t a poor leader, or maybe he wasn’t 25 years and as many millions of dollars ago when he was trying to get out of Allendale. Make no mistake, he is out at LSU because he is not a good enough leader to take that program to where they expect to be. Notre Dame wanted to win, LSU expects to win, and BK could never get his players to follow him. The guy is on a golf course or at the lake as much as he is in the football facility.

He’s a do what I say leader.

Edited November 12, 2025 by PDB26

[Coach Nowlin]

The head coach of SF and his DC are laughing at Brian Kelly now.   They should invite him out to SF and make him park some cars ...

[Irishman]

43 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

The head coach of SF and his DC are laughing at Brian Kelly now.   They should invite him out to SF and make him park some cars ...

MLF was on that staff too and had to park cars. I knew Salem was but had not heard that Shanahan was there. 

[Sparty]

46 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

The head coach of SF and his DC are laughing at Brian Kelly now.   They should invite him out to SF and make him park some cars ...

SF?  I must’ve missed something 

4 minutes ago, Irishman said:

MLF was on that staff too and had to park cars. I knew Salem was but had not heard that Shanahan was there. 

Can you fill me/us in?  I’m lost here.  

[Irishman]

4 minutes ago, Sparty said:

SF?  I must’ve missed something 

Can you fill me/us in?  I’m lost here.  

Saleh and LaFleur were GA's at Western Michigan when Kelly was the head coach. He hosted a party for friends and staff. Saleh and LaFleur got invitations, so they show up. Kelly meets them at the door and says oh no, you're not invited to the party. You are here to park cars for the guests. Both of them promised each other if they were ever head coaches, they would never treat anyone on staff or their GA's like that. 

[PDB26]

8 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Saleh and LaFleur were GA's at Western Michigan when Kelly was the head coach. He hosted a party for friends and staff. Saleh and LaFleur got invitations, so they show up. Kelly meets them at the door and says oh no, you're not invited to the party. You are here to park cars for the guests. Both of them promised each other if they were ever head coaches, they would never treat anyone on staff or their GA's like that. 

For what it’s worth, I recently heard that Lafleur wasn’t happy with the way that story was retold when reported.

Edited November 12, 2025 by PDB26

[Sparty]

8 hours ago, Irishman said:

Saleh and LaFleur were GA's at Western Michigan when Kelly was the head coach. He hosted a party for friends and staff. Saleh and LaFleur got invitations, so they show up. Kelly meets them at the door and says oh no, you're not invited to the party. You are here to park cars for the guests. Both of them promised each other if they were ever head coaches, they would never treat anyone on staff or their GA's like that. 

The old Caddyshack treatment huh?  

[Bobref]

1 hour ago, Sparty said:

The old Caddyshack treatment huh?  

“How’d you like to mow my lawn?” 🤣😂😅

[Coach Nowlin]

11 hours ago, Irishman said:

MLF was on that staff too and had to park cars. I knew Salem was but had not heard that Shanahan was there. 

Right Church Wrong Pew

 

I was in a clinic , my first one ever at Central Michigan area, Soaring Eagle, Casino, NIKE COY clinic circuit, I was like a JR at Purdue and Coach Meeks took me, along with Chris Bell at South Newton, saw this guy from Grand Valley State talk in a small room, and he was AWESOME, then I followed him to Central Michigan, Cincy, ND and now LSU, watching, listening, definitely not the same guy that was so rooted in the game at GVst, vs whatever that characture of coaching he performed starting with that nonsense Bayou draw all the way to the final days......

[23andCounting]

Revisiting this topic:

Kelly seems to be laying low waiting for a good opportunity to arise. Take a year off and see what happens with Wisconsin, Florida State, South Carolina, or Nebraska? Would any of those programs be interested? What about Purdue? Would Kelly be a good fit there? Personally, I think he'd rather be at the beach then taking over the Boilermakers. Like the guy or hate him, I feel that he's too good of a coach for one the forementioned programs not to go all-in on him. The SEC doesn't seem to respect him anymore, so I'm thinking maybe Wisconsin or Nebraska if those two programs have uninspiring years. Wisconsin most likely. He seems more revered in the Midwest. 

[Coach Nowlin]

How much is he getting paid to be unemployed again?    

[23andCounting]

2 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

How much is he getting paid to be unemployed again?    

For now, it appears to be about $750,000 per month. His buyout was 54 million payable over time, but reduced if he takes on a media or coaching job. I mean, at this point why even stress over another job. One could stay pretty busy making over twenty four thousand dollars a day. 

[Coach Nowlin]

then he has 750k a month reasons to just chill 

 

but that is me 

 

[Bash Riprock]

On 5/19/2026 at 10:18 AM, 23andCounting said:

Revisiting this topic:

Kelly seems to be laying low waiting for a good opportunity to arise. Take a year off and see what happens with Wisconsin, Florida State, South Carolina, or Nebraska? Would any of those programs be interested? What about Purdue? Would Kelly be a good fit there? Personally, I think he'd rather be at the beach then taking over the Boilermakers. Like the guy or hate him, I feel that he's too good of a coach for one the forementioned programs not to go all-in on him. The SEC doesn't seem to respect him anymore, so I'm thinking maybe Wisconsin or Nebraska if those two programs have uninspiring years. Wisconsin most likely. He seems more revered in the Midwest. 

Did I hear correctly that Purdue's president left for Northwestern?  Does this open up an opportunity for a president that may be more open to sports investment??

Coach?  Any thoughts??