National Analyst Says Brian Kelly Was 'Checked Out' Prior to LSU Football Firing

LSU head coach Brian Kelly is out as the decision-maker in Baton Rouge with the administration relieving him of his duties on Sunday night following a Week 9 loss to the Texas A&M Aggies.

With the loss, the Bayou Bengals moved to 5-3 on the season with Kelly's overall record as the Tigers' head coach going to 34-14 since the 2022 season.

Once the news broke on Sunday, college football analyst Josh Pate provided his thoughts on the move and what went wrong for Kelly during his stint with the LSU Tigers.

Josh Pate's Take: Brian Kelly "Checked Out"

“Brian Kelly never understood the assignment at LSU. He never understood what the L stood for. The L on that chest stands for Louisiana and Brian Kelly never had interest in Louisiana. He had interest in BK, to the point where he got there and he flushed a lot of Louisiana people out of the building, including many that could have been very useful to him.

"It doesn’t have anything to do with him being an outsider, Nick Saban was an outsider, but what attracted him to that job was Louisiana. Brian Kelly was attracted to it because he thought he could make a lot of money, spend more money, get some athletes and win a title. He never factored into his decision making ‘maybe I should harness what makes Louisiana great.’ This can be the best job in the country.

LSU Tigers Football: Brian Kelly. — Courtesy of LSU Tigers Football.

“I’ve always had a place in my heart for LSU and I saw a guy who didn’t properly respect his job title. He appreciated making the money and having the LSU across his chest because it meant ‘I’m a major SEC head coach that’s making eight figures per year. I like standing on top of what other people have built to grab a brass ring that I couldn’t reach at Notre Dame, but I’m not in love with becoming one of them.’

"I cooled on him a couple years ago because I found out what the inner workings were around there and he was checked out. He was still working a ton of hours, but in the most critical part of roster construction season, this dude is on a beach and it never got talked about publicly. I lost all professional respect for how he was going about his business there when I found out how checked out he was on some of the most critical parts of LSU football.

"However you view that job, it’s a top five job in the sport and very few people get that opportunity and you have to dedicate your life to it and he didn’t. You’re landing kids and hiring staffers he didn’t know anything about. That’s what had me checked out on Brian Kelly. I didn’t have a lot of respect for how he was going about doing things there.”

LSU associate head coach/running backs coach Frank Wilson will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

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