
Brian Kelly has coached for two of the biggest programs in college football, if not in American sports as a whole.
He spent 12 seasons as the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He then spent three seasons as head coach of the LSU Tigers before getting fired near the end of his fourth.
The Tigers brought Kelly in to bring them into national championship contention. The issue is, he couldn't even get them into the College Football Playoff.
Kelly was a disappointment at LSU, even though he was fired with a 34-14 overall record.
And yet, he's still one of the biggest names in the sport, and he could easily find himself coaching big-time college football again in the next year or two.
You get the sense that he's not quite over getting fired by LSU, though. Kelly recently interviewed on "Dusty and Danny in the Morning," and he sounded like someone who was still trying to process how he got to where he currently is.
“Let’s put it in perspective. You know, I’ve had 33 years in this business, over 300 wins. You know, had two losing seasons in 33 years. So, you know, my entire career has been built upon, you know, having some kind of success,” Kelly said (h/t On3). “And when you get fired, you’re told that you’re not the guy for the job. And so, that’s probably the first thing you start thinking about, the things that you’ve done for three decades … You look carefully about why this happened, and look, the easy answer is, I didn’t win enough games. You know, that’s the bottom line, right?"
"You're in this long enough you're probably going to get fired but I never thought that would occur. So I think the emotions more anything else for me was disappointment."
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) March 9, 2026
Brian Kelly opened up to @DustyDvoracek & @dannykanell about being fired this season from LSU. pic.twitter.com/04GggOr0Gv
Kelly is able to look at it pragmatically, but he admitted that he feels disappointed that he couldn't finish the job at LSU. He even admitted that, as a long-time college coach, his eyes were wide open that getting fired is always a possibility.
He didn't think it would be a possibility for him, though. Keep in mind, he had never been fired before. He had left each of his previous positions for a new opportunity. From Grand Valley State to Central Michigan to Cincinnati to Notre Dame to LSU.
“I think that’s probably the one thing, because I’ve been in it long enough to know, as you said in your first comments, you know you’re in this long enough, you’re probably going to get fired, but I never thought that would occur," Kelly said. "So I think the emotions, more than anything else, for me, was disappointing.”
This is a man who is clearly grieving not just a job, but an aura of sorts. He's been able to call his own shots for the entirety of his career, but he found out in the hardest way possible that life in the SEC comes at you fast.
It really does mean more.
Kelly is 200-76 overall in 22 years as a college football head coach. He's a two-time AP Coach of the Year, and he's coached in a national championship game. He's also known as an above-average recruiter.
He'll bounce back if he wants to, but right now, even four months after he was fired, he sounds shell-shocked.
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