BAYHAM: The Merciful End of the Brian Kelly Error

Written by State Rep. Mike Bayham

Let me lead this off by saying that the title of this column is not an autoincorrect.

The signing of Brian Kelly as LSU’s football coach will go down as the worst hire in the history of the program.

Sure there were less successful coaches in the modern era (Mike Archer, Curly Hallman, and Gerry DiNardo) but they didn’t mortgage out Death Valley for their respective debacles.

Kelly’s attitude was as obnoxious as his $95 million contract.

“We’re taking receipts. And we’ll see you at the national championship,” crowed Kelly after the Tigers defeated Oklahoma to cap the 2024 regular season with the team’s eighth win- “earning” them a trip to the Texas Bowl.

An absurd declaration that rightfully became a source of mockery in the proceeding season after losses to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt (!), and a nasty second-half curb stomping from Texas A&M.

As much as the Aggies are disliked, LSU fans owe them a debt of gratitude for the Saturday night Death Valley humiliation as it facilitated the termination of Kelly’s tenure less than 24 hours later.

The ice was cracking under Kelly earlier this week after being beaten by Vandy, with one individual in the know mentioning to me at the White House LSU Baseball National Champion event that a loss on Saturday would end with Kelly’s departure.

With a reported $53 million buyout, Kelly is leaving a pretty large receipt.

The justification for any buyout is that Kelly’s continued presence would further destroy the football program, which has won three national titles in a span of sixteen seasons. And I don’t believe anyone felt that Kelly would be adding to the trophy collection.

Thus a choice was made to “save” the program by once again burning a stack of guaranteed contract money- which is becoming quite the unwelcome tradition under the stately oaks as Kelly’s two predecessors also exited Tiger Stadium with loads of cash and fabulous prizes.

And the common denominator in two of these massive buyouts was LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward, who handed Ed Orgeron a cartoonish $42 million value contract extension before sacking him less than two years later.

Woodward was also the AD at Texas A&M who had inked Jimbo Fisher to a 10-year, $74 million contract, of which the folks at College Station had to eat $76.8 million after later giving Fisher a raise and extension.

To think the exact same athletic director made the same deal with a different flawed coach at his new post may very well be the college football definition of insanity.

And where was the controlling authority at the university to step in to watch this history repeat itself at the hands of the very same actor?

At the end of the day Kelly is the mascot, symptom, and beneficiary of a far bigger problem at LSU. Never mind that there were more red flags on Kelly than a Soviet May Day parade.

I can think of one disturbing event under Kelly’s Notre Dame tenure that should’ve been a disqualifier, yet the hunger for a big name and the illusion of winning proved irresistible to those with the final say.

As a university LSU has a lot of problems, the most glaring and immediate is the absence of leadership- something that has to be resolved sooner than later. Campus safety problems have manifested as of late, though despite being located in Baton Rouge, the university itself rates being more safe than Texas A&M, Alabama, and Yale.

But the profligate football coaching contracts need to stop, which only ups the antes across the board as the ludicrous transitions into the new normal.

It’s time for accountability in LSU sports rather than passing the buck (and Kelly’s “receipt”) to a financially strained fan base as LSU is approaching the point of running out of other people’s money to spend.

LSU could’ve had Brian Kelly results for a lot less sans the bloating and fake accent.