What was already the craziest season in college football history from a coaching turnover standpoint became even crazier Sunday when LSU fired Brian Kelly, a decision which could have an impact on the Penn State coaching search.
LSU’s embarrassing home loss to Texas A&M was the last straw for Kelly, who was more than midway through his fourth season.
His $54 million dollar buyout wasn’t enough to keep the powers that be at LSU from firing Kelly; who now will be owed the second-highest amount for a fired coach in history, surpassing what Penn State owes James Franklin ($49 million as of this writing.)
Kelly had some success at LSU, winning double-digit games in his first two seasons and then going 9-4 last year. Many saw this year’s team as a national championship contender, and LSU made its presence known Week 1 with an upset win under the lights at No. 4 Clemson. Two nights after that win, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit predicted that Penn State and LSU would play for the national championship.
Instead, both are looking for new coaches.
Perhaps the first sign of trouble for LSU was after the team’s 20-10 win over Florida Sept. 13.
When asked about the team’s offensive struggles, Kelly got mad.
“Stop. Really?” Kelly said. “Is that the first question? We won the game 20-10. Try another question. What do you want me to tell you? I just laid it out for you. We played the game to win the game.”
“You’re looking at this from the wrong perspective,” Kelly said. “LSU won the football game, won the game. I don’t know what you want from me. What do you want? You want us to win 70-0 against Florida to keep you happy?
“Those are ridiculous questions and I’m getting tired of it. That football team just worked their tail off to get an SEC win and you want to know what’s wrong. You know what? You’re spoiled, you’re spoiled.”
Kelly apologized to the reporter later but things didn’t get any better for LSU.
First, No. 4 LSU lost at Ole Miss Sept. 27.
Then, consecutive losses at Vanderbilt and to Texas A&M in Death Valley ended LSU’s playoff hopes and, ultimately, the Brian Kelly era.
There are now 12 FBS coaching vacancies, and it’s very possible that LSU and Penn State could have overlap candidates in the coaching search.
