Brian Kelley to LSU? WTF
It's the kind of hire they needed to make. Established coach, projects stability. After they psycho circus ($1 to KISS) of the Orgeron experiment and the Yogi Berra goofiness of Les Miles' tenure putting a guy in place who brought that air of legitimacy and a business-like approach was the right thing.
Napier? Might be a good coach and has Louisiana ties but wouldn't bring that illusion of strength and maturity. Kiffin? Might be a good coach, but comes off like a mix of the worst of Miles and Orgeron. They supposedly wanted Fisher (who the hell knows why, maybe just to poke the A&M bear?) but he wasn't receptive.
So Kelly. The perception is right. But is he a good coach? That's really, really hard to say. His background doesn't show much really. Success at D2, a few decent years at Cincy and then most of his D1 career at Notre Dame. The problem with evaluating his record there is that the Farting Irish schedule typically reads like the menu from Sweet Sisters Cake Shop. Toledo, service academies, Ga Tech, a couple of shit-tastic Big10 teams, Duke, Boston College, Bowling Green...
Has Kelly ever led Notre Dame to a win over an SEC team? Yeah. A couple of times. Barely survived Vandy in 2018. Oddly enough, topped LSU in back-to-back bowl games in 2014 and 2015.
His baggage won't be mentioned, but he does have a history with the NCAA -- two entire years vacated including a playoff humiliation at the hands of Bammer. And there was the student who was killed in that tower incident.
He's probably a good enough coach. And as history has proven, even a moron could win it all at LSU (see Les Miles and Ed Orgeron).
A few days ago I thought LSU made a mistake getting rid of Orgeron. This hire has me questioning that. It elevates the program's stature for sure. But is Kelly a better "fit" for that program and it's uniqueness than Orgeron? Of that I'm not sure. I tend to think maybe not.