The embers are still hot on the tire fire that was the Brian Kelly era at LSU. Kelly was fired midway through his fourth season at LSU with a 34-14 record. While he did lead the Tigers to an SEC Championship Game appearance during his first season with the team in 2022, he failed to guide the Bayou Bengals to the College Football Playoff even once. A third loss on the year ended all hope of it.
During Kirby Smart's weekly press conference on Monday, the Georgia Bulldogs head coach was asked about Kelly being the latest in a long line of Power Four head coaches to be fired before Halloween. Kelly became the seventh Power Four coach to be let go before November. This does not include Troy Taylor being ousted from Stanford back in the spring. Smart sees the big picture here...
He did not beat around the bush when it came to discussing what all contributed to Kelly's dismissal.
What Kirby Smart had to say about Brian Kelly being fired by LSU
Smart first stated this was effectively the nature of the beast when coaching at a traditional power.
"It's the world we live in. At this time in the middle of the season, I think there's so much built around the playoffs. It's like everything is boom or bust, and you can't have a normal season."
He then offered an intriguing memory from his one year on Nick Saban's LSU staff way back in 2004.
"I know it's high expectations. I coached at LSU, and a guy once told me, 'That office you're in, that's not your office. You're borrowing it.' And I knew right then, if you didn't win, you wouldn't be there long."
Clearly, this says that Smart learned something in one year at LSU that Kelly never could seem to grasp in parts of four. You are never bigger than the program. Some things are just bigger than a football head coach. It was more about Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge than it ever was about LSU Tigers football. He won just enough to keep the administration happy. Players and coaches were miserable.
Smart learned from the best at the same place where Kelly finally failed on how to win big in the SEC.
Brian Kelly's LSU failures were never going to happen for Kirby Smart
Part of the reason why people keep piling on Kelly after his LSU demise left and right is that he conducted himself in a way that he believed he was better than everyone else. Everyone was put on god's green earth to serve him. Kelly just used college football as a vehicle for that. What really did him in was his arrogant nature. He would rather be on a beach than learning what made LSU special.
It took Smart one year to have a firm and complete grasp of why LSU Tigers football is worth celebrating and championing more often than not. The great people of the state of Louisiana love that team. It is home to DBU, Death Valley, as well as where the greatest college football team of all time played not that long ago. Smart would have used all of that to his advantage, and then some.
Instead, Kelly fired people who actually mattered, always making sure he could throw somebody else under the bus when anything bad were to happen to the program. Smart is not a perfect coach, nor a perfect man. He is a human being. What Smart does do is he shows a genuine appreciation for his players, coaches and fans, as well as firmly recognizing that Georgia football will go on without him.
Coaching at a place like LSU under a man like Saban helped lay the foundation for Smart's career.