Joel Klatt Names Surprising SEC Head Coach on the Hot Seat In 2025

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jaron Spor | Last updated Jun 12, 2025 2:33 PM ET

When taking over one of the top programs in college football, your previous accomplishments become less significant. What truly matters is your performance at that school.

This is the lesson LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly has learned. Kelly has enjoyed considerable success as a head coach, sporting a record of 195-73 over 21 seasons. This includes a successful stint at Notre Dame, where he compiled a 113-40 record and led the Fighting Irish to two College Football Playoff appearances and one BCS National Championship Game appearance.

After 12 seasons at Notre Dame, Kelly took the helm at LSU in 2022. Since his arrival, he has guided the Tigers to a record of 29-11. However, he has not yet led the team to an SEC championship or a College Football Playoff appearance.

According to Fox Sports' Joel Klatt, speaking on his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show," it is time for Kelly to take that next step, or the pressure to perform will start to increase.

"It's time," Klatt said. "Year 4 for Brian Kelly, rough start to the tenure, right? Like, you remember the accent? He debuted that Southern accent so well. We had the bad recruiting video with him dancing. Then you look up and it's like, 'OK.' They've had two 10-win seasons. In most places, two 10-win seasons get people off your back. They've had a nine-win season. But here's the difference; expectations are sky high at LSU."

Klatt noted that every coach at LSU this century has won a national championship. Nick Saban was the first to achieve this in 2003, followed by Les Miles in 2007 and Ed Orgeron in 2019.

According to Klatt, this history is a key reason why Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU. He believes that, due to the program's potential and its location, Kelly sees a better chance of building a national championship contender at LSU than he had at Notre Dame.

Klatt emphasized that Kelly needs a strong start to the season, beginning with Week 1 against the Clemson Tigers on the road. Clemson is coming off a College Football Playoff berth, while LSU has not won an opening game since 2019.

Klatt said he feels Clemson is slightly better than LSU. However, he believes LSU must win this game if Kelly wants to avoid pressure early in his tenure. Klatt pointed out that the schedule becomes significantly tougher after this game, with matchups against the Florida Gators, Ole Miss Rebels, South Carolina Gamecocks, Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas A&M Aggies and Oklahoma Sooners.

Nonetheless, Klatt sees this game as a crucial benchmark for LSU this season, as he considers Clemson to be the top program in the ACC. A victory in this game would make a strong statement for LSU in the opening week.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 30.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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