Reasons why Brian Kelly hire at LSU makes sense

It is frankly shocking that LSU was able to land Brian Kelly.

It is not shocking that Kelly would leave the land of the Golden Dome for the land of the Golden Band from Tiger Land, trading in old gold for yellow gold.

The move is golden for Kelly in the financial realm.

Notre Dame has not won a national championship since Lou Holtz turned the trick in 1988.

The Tigers have won three national championships since the 2003 season under three different head coaches and played in a fourth national championship game.

LSU has vastly superior facilities and weather.

LSU plays in the best conference in college football.

We could stop there but I digress.

Kelly’s name was seldom, if ever mentioned, by any sources or rumor mills during the coaching search conducted by Scott Woodward.

As I said throughout the process, the leap to judgment on Woodward and the process was unfair and, frankly, ridiculous.

Reporters have a responsibility to report what they see and hear and to present it as fact or as rumor.

When you choose the latter, you had better have good sourcing.

The fact is that very few knew what Woodward was up to as he did an excellent job of concealing his desires and motivation and deserves credit in that regard.

Woodward also deserves credit for landing Kelly.

No, he is not the sexy young up-and-coming potential star or the star along the lines of Lincoln Riley or Lane Kiffin.

What Kelly is, unquestionably, is a proven commodity.

The record speaks for itself.

Dating back to 2006, Kelly has a head coaching record of 126-45 (.737 win percentage).

Overall, Kelly, as a head coach, is 263-96-2 (.728).

By comparison, Ed Orgeron finished his LSU coaching career 51-20 (.704).

Kelly has won everywhere he has been.

At Grand Valley State, Kelly went 118-35-2.

At Central Michigan, Kelly posted a 19-16 mark.

At Cincinnati, Kelly was 34-6.

At Notre Dame, the record was 92-39.

By all accounts, Kelly has a clear and unimpeachable record off the field, with no black marks or soiling of his reputation, an important aspect in the current culture of intercollegiate athletics. That is particularly true following the current issues at LSU and some which soiled the image of Ed Orgeron, fairly or unfairly.

When you can lead Notre Dame to a national championship game and to three additional College Football Playoff appearances and when you can claim a bowl victory over LSU and Orgeron (21-17 in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl in 2018), there is a level of proof of success.

Kelly has a good offensive background and has fielded an offense which has proven to be balanced.

From a recruiting perspective, Kelly is a name brand which should be well received by recruits.

Why did Kelly make the choice of LSU over Notre Dame?

First, 12 years is a long time. There is such a time as the statute of limitations, of an expiring meter, of overstaying a welcome. The most recent example of that is Gary Patterson at TCU.

At Notre Dame, it is harder to recruit, based on stringent academic requirements.

At LSU, Kelly will have the freedom to get any prospect he desires.

His primary objective now is to sell those who are already committed to LSU for the Class of 2022 to remain committed while reaching out to the likes of TreVonte Citizen and Aaron Anderson and trying to convince them to reconsider. He can certainly try the same with Shone Washington, who announced he is now committed to Georgia.

Commitments are worth nothing until a name is on the dotted line and that opportunity comes on December 15, with the early signing date.

Additionally, Kelly must reach out to other recruits who are not committed and are on the fence. If you are Jacoby Mathews of Ponchatoula, does Kelly tip the scales away from a lean to Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher, a coach and program that just lost to an LSU team without 12-14 key players?

Kelly clearly wants to take the next step, quite possibly the last step in his illustrious coaching career by measuring himself against the best in the best conference in the country.

At Notre Dame, the schedule allowed Kelly to cherry pick opponents wisely and to position the Fighting Irish properly to get to the playoffs.

At LSU, the schedule will not allow that in the brutal SEC West and overall conference, which will only be enhanced by the additions of Oklahoma and Texas in the near future, clearly during Kelly’s tenure at LSU.

Will Marcus Freeman follow Kelly to LSU?

The Fighting Irish defensive coordinator chose Kelly and the Fighting Irish over Orgeron and the Fighting Tigers back in January when both came calling. Clearly, Freeman made the correct decision, reading the tea leaves well regarding the uncertain nature of Orgeron at LSU.

Freeman was even mentioned as a potential head coaching candidate at LSU. He is highly regarded with a very bright future as a head coach on the FBS level.

St. Thomas More quarterback Walker Howard, an LSU commit, has reportedly been wavering in his commitment to the Tigers, due to the Orgeron departure and uncertainty of who the new head coach has been. Ironically, Howard visited Kelly and Notre Dame recently, his primary alternative to LSU. Perhaps the hiring of Kelly cements Howard and his commitment to LSU.

Former Archbishop Rummel star Logan Diggs has showed good promise in his freshman season, rushing 43 times for 207 yards and three touchdowns and has two catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. Diggs chose Notre Dame over LSU, largely because Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish were on him very early and were loyal while LSU came in later in the recruiting process. Would Diggs now consider following Kelly to Baton Rouge?

The move from Notre Dame to LSU is a familiar one. In 2007, LSU hired Paul Mainieri away from the Fighting Irish in baseball. Of course, that was a different scenario. While Mainieri led Notre Dame to the College World Series, LSU was a better job, an elite baseball program, the best in the country and Mainieri played at LSU (and UNO).

Finally, as Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley once stated, “bull walks, money talks.”

When you receive a 10-year, $95 million deal to get the job done, you have financial security and job security, the latter not being of paramount importance when you know you will get paid. Ask Orgeron about that, a guy who is smiling, relieved and actually appears happy to have what turned out to be a burden of being the head coach at LSU off his shoulders.

At Notre Dame, Kelly’s annual average salary was just under $2.7 million per year.

The naysayers, and there will be many, will complain about Kelly’s age (60) and his lack of experience in the south and in SEC territory in recruiting. Some do not like Notre Dame. Get over it. Many of those same folks did not want to even consider Billy Napier because he was from a school in Lafayette.

Kelly simply has to make smart hires, something Orgeron failed miserably at in his final two seasons, hiring excellent X and O coaches and hiring dynamic coaches who can recruit. That should include a few members of the current staff and a few others with deep ties to Louisiana and the deep south in recruiting.

Woodward handled his business well.

Whether he really wanted Lincoln Riley or not, he landed the star attraction, making the splash hire he promised, having already done so with Kim Mulkey in women’s basketball and with Jay Johnson in baseball.

Whether Kelly is a home run hire or strikes out, which I doubt, Woodward made his splash hire and is to be commended.

Kelly deserves credit as well for accepting the challenge.

The move makes sense on many fronts, including dollars and cents.

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