When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU, he had six years left on his extension.
Kelly felt he had a better chance of winning a National Championship in Baton Rouge than in South Bend. What he found out is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Several news outlets have reported that LSU is letting Kelly go and is currently negotiating the buyout, which is expected to be in the neighborhood of $50M.
When Kelly left Notre Dame, neither side felt like there would be an ounce of regret. Kelly had done a lot to rebuild a program that had lost its way, but it wasn’t a secret that the relationship wasn’t like Ward and June Cleaver.
It was a win-win. Kelly got a program that was ready-made to win, and the Fighting Irish got the perfect representative for the program in Marcus Freeman.
Notre Dame and Freeman are where they want to be, even with the two early-season losses, and Kelly never got LSU to where the program expected to be.
Penn State’s willingness to pay a successful coach one play away from having a chance to play for a National Championship to go away set off a chain reaction of paying big buyouts. Shortly after James Franklin was given a pink slip, Florida delivered one to Billy Napier.
Today, it was Kelly’s turn.
Kelly is a proven winner. He will get another chance. I suspect it will be a program in a power conference that is stuck in the middle or at the bottom. They will ask him to rebuild the program, and odds are that he will, but just like in South Bend, he will wear out his welcome and will be on the move again.
It’s who Brian Kelly has always been, and it will be who he will always be.
