Brian Kelly does not think he did a poor job at LSU despite his firing last season.
Kelly defended his tenure in a new interview with John Brice of USA Today. While he conceded he “didn’t win enough games,” he questioned whether that was a fair criticism.
“I guess you do have to start with what is winning enough games?” Kelly said. “We were 34-14, 22-3 at home when I was fired. We had two 10-win seasons, won an SEC (West Division) championship, had the No. 1 offense in college football, a Heisman Trophy winner. When you look at what is winning and what keeps you employed, other people make those decisions. But it starts with what is defined as winning, and unfortunately it wasn’t defined as enough winning leading into being fired.”
Kelly added that he does hope to coach again and still spends a few hours a day watching film in his home office.
While the numbers Kelly cites are correct, they are also a bit cherrypicked. The Tigers were only 19-10 in SEC play under Kelly and were off to a 2-3 start in 2025 prior to his firing. LSU never lost fewer than three games under Kelly and never even made the College Football Playoff, which had to be the minimum expectation.
Kelly’s exit from LSU was far from amicable, and he essentially accused the school of sabotaging him after his firing. It sounds like expectations for him, at least in his mind, were simply too high.
