LSU will hire Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly as the next head football coach in another shocking college football coaching move. Kelly will replace Ed Orgeron, who announced that he would not return in October. The agreement will likely be finalized by Tuesday.
Kelly has been at Notre Dame for 12 seasons and is the winningest coach in Notre Dame history with 106 victories. He coached Notre Dame to the BCS title game in 2012 and two College Football Playoff appearances in 2018 and 2020. Currently, Notre Dame is 11-1 and is vying for a College Football playoff spot this year. The Fighting Irish’s only loss came to undefeated Cincinnati.
Last week Kelly said no to the possibility of leaving Notre Dame. “No. I mean, [Pittsburgh Steelers coach] Mike Tomlin had the best line, right?…Unless that fairy godmother comes by with that $250 million check, my wife would want to take a look at it first. I’d have to run it by her.”
After winning the National title LSU went 11-11, but the Tigers upset Texas A&M 27-24 last Saturday in Orgeron’s final game as coach. Offensive line coach Brad Davis will assume coaching duties for the LSU bowl game.
As a college coach Kelly is 263-92-2. He has two Division II national titles while coaching at Grand Valley State, while also spending time at Cincinnati, where he was 34-6 and had six New Year’s bowl appearances. The head coach will be a great addition to LSU as they look to return to greatness.
So what’s next for Notre Dame? If Notre Dame wants to stay in house, they could hire defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who is said to be a serious candidate for the job. But the top candidate will probably be Cincinnati’s head coach Luke Fickell. He is 47-14 in five years with Cincinnati. Expect Urban Meyer and Iowa State’s head coach Matt Campbell’s names to be mentioned as well. The Fighting Irish will be a hot job for many coaches leaving the school with a bevy of options to choose as coach.
-LaMarr Fields
Twitter: @raiderway83