Big Drama on the Bayou

By Jim Gazzolo

From the moment he landed in Baton Rouge, Brian Kelly was a bad fit.

All you have to do is go back and watch his first words in front of the home folks.

Kelly tried to speak their language during a basketball game at LSU, using an attempt at a southern accent that made him look out of touch.

Truth is, he was just that.

Kelly is a football coach from the Northeast who looks like a banker. His three-piece, button-down suits were out of the norm for an LSU football coach.

The two before Kelly were the bib-overall-wearing Ed Orgeron and the grass-eating Les Miles. They were the furthest things from Kelly.

Even the one before them, you remember, Nick Saban, he was a Midwestern football coach who at the time looked nothing like the leader who would become at Alabama.

None of the three appeared to be the CEO type like Kelly. 

Each one of the trio led LSU to the national title, which really is all the Tiger fans care about. Of course, the last two were asked to leave town after the program began to resemble a frat house.

Still, they had those championships.

Looking to clean things up, LSU turned to Kelly, who was supposed to be the grown-up in the room. Kelly had a nice resume, having won a national title at the Division II level and having good stops at Cincinnati and Notre Dame.

However, he never won a national title. Never even made the playoffs and until this season, didn’t win an opening game.

Kelly left Notre Dame when the Irish were fifth in the country and still had a chance to make the playoffs. They told the world he was heading to LSU because it had the resources to win a title while Notre Dame didn’t.

So much for taking the high road. 

That’s the same Notre Dame that went to the playoffs last year, won three postseason games, and lost the championship to Ohio State. Meanwhile, LSU played in a bowl game most have long forgotten about.

That’s the same Notre Dame that stuck with Kelly after a 4-8 season in 2016. In 2022, he took over at LSU, believing he would restore the Tigers to greatness. 

He signed a massive 10-year deal but didn’t even finish four of them. Kelly was fired Sunday after starting 5-3 this season, after telling all he would see them in the national championship game this year.

Maybe he’ll buy a ticket.

Adding to the chaos, Scott Wordward, the Athletic Director that brought Kelly to town, was fired Thursday night. Another victim of the LSU hype. 

LSU is not the only school to fire its coach this season, but it is the messiest. Everybody has gotten involved and the rumors have reached all the way back to McNeese State and Lake Charles. 

Nobody knows what will happen next in Baton Rouge. LSU is still a big-time job but it does have a lot of cleaning up to do inside the football program.

Only in Louisiana is the game within the game so much fun to watch.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers sports in Southwest Louisiana. He is also the host of Poke Nation, which airs weekly on CBS-Lake Charles.