The LSU Tigers brought the Brian Kelly era to an end on Sunday Night, as the Tigers fell to 5-3 and 2-3 on the season. Even as LSU got embarrassed on Saturday Night, no one expected to LSU to move on this quickly considering the size of his buyout. When LSU decided to move on from Kelly this quickly, it speaks volumes to the behind the scenes happenings in a program the fans can't see.
After the firing was made official, everyone was trying to figure out how this all fell apart so quickly, but we should've been surprised it didn't end sooner. When a member of the media in Josh Pate who never bashes coaches gives a scathing review of Kelly's time in Baton Rouge, it becomes clear that he was no longer the man for the job.
"I’ve always had a place in my heart for LSU and I saw a guy who didn’t properly respect his job title. He appreciated making the money and having the LSU across his chest because it meant ‘I’m a major SEC head coach that’s making eight figures per year. I like standing on top of what other people have built to grab a brass ring that I couldn’t reach at Notre Dame, but I’m not in love with becoming one of them."Josh Pate
This quote speaks to what every LSU Football fan has felt for years, as Brian Kelly never seemed like he truly loved the job. Kelly thought just because Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron won National Championships at LSU that he could show up and expect the same results when he wasn't nearly as bought in as they were.
If saying Brian Kelly didn't respect his job wasn't bad enough, Josh Pate then laid it all on the table revealing the ugly side of Brian Kelly's tenure.
"I cooled on him a couple years ago because I found out what the inner workings were around there and he was checked out. He was still working a ton of hours, but in the most critical part of roster construction season, this dude is on a beach and it never got talked about publicly. I lost all professional respect for how he was going about his business there when I found out how checked out he was on some of the most critical parts of LSU football. However you view that job, it’s a top five job in the sport and very few people get that opportunity and you have to dedicate your life to it and he didn’t. You’re landing kids and hiring staffers he didn’t know anything about. That’s what had me checked out on Brian Kelly. I didn’t have a lot of respect for how he was going about doing things there."Josh Pate
Take any part of this information from Josh Pate on it's own and you see just how little Brian Kelly respected the chance to coach LSU. Brian Kelly taking a beach vacation in Florida during the bye week is the most absurd part of the story and it's only fitting he went 0-2 after the bye.
One of the biggest staples of watching an LSU game was seeing how Brian Kelly treated his assistant coaches. During Saturday's game we all saw him on the broadcast giving OC Joe Sloan, DC Blake Baker, and Special Teams coach Aman Anand an earful. According to Josh Pate the reason Brian Kelly may not be on the same page as his staffers is the fact that he hasn't known a ton about them before hiring several staff members.
The same is apparently true for the players Brian Kelly was recruiting to LSU which is less surprising, but also points to how he's not addicted to this like Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Dan Lanning, or the countless other coaches who would die for their programs.
What does this all mean for LSU's next Head Coaching hire? If you look at how Brian Kelly treated the job, you almost need to look at a younger Head Coach and a coach who hasn't reached the mountain top yet. A coach that understands just how great of an opportunity it is to coach in the SEC and at LSU would be a massive difference from Brian Kelly and it'd help get this program back on track.