LSU making serious push for Brian Kelly
Pro: his purple face will match their color scheme.
Con: hell, I can't really think of one. Presumably Fickell would then jump to ND.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:39 PM ^
Of course he's a target, if only based on rumors started by his agent. Dude is watching .500 coaches get $95mm contracts, he's gotta get re-upped somehow.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^
Dang, you ain't kidding, $2.67 million is paltry compared to his peers.
He's 112-40 (.737), padded with wins against weaker opponents.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:05 PM ^
Brian Kelly makes way more than 2.67 million a year. That may be some reported number, but there is no way that is close to his total compensation.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:07 PM ^
Brian Kelly, who is Notre Dame’s winningest all-time coach with 107 victories, is just 60th on the just list with the relatively modest salary of $2.67 million. He’s actually making less than Jedd Fisch, still seeking his first victory in his inaugural season at Arizona.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
I don't know who to believe but ND is a private institution so that number may be a guess, it may be old, it may be his base salary without including basic bonuses for academic and minimum victories.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:12 PM ^
I don't know who to believe but ND is a private institution so that number may be a guess, it may be old, it may be his base salary without including basic bonuses for academic and minimum victories.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^
Notre Dame released the salary info for their highest compensated employees last year, and I assume they did so again this year at some point.
To your point, this includes cash comp directly to Brian Kelly, but does not include payments made to his LLC (didn't know coaches could do that) or external income (sponsorships, etc.), so the actual comp could actually be much, much higher.
So low base, but who knows what else he is earning. I'm sure it ends up being competitive.
November 29th, 2021 at 7:36 PM ^
Public school vs private school and what they have to disclose. If you truly believe the HC at Notre Dame is the 60th highest paid coach in the country, I don’t know what to tell you.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:10 PM ^
Private schools don't have to make compensation for their coaches public. So they typically don't. There's no reason to think they are cheap when it comes to paying football coaches.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:21 PM ^
I'm thinking SI probably knows how to find this out?
November 29th, 2021 at 6:26 PM ^
Maybe not. After all, it's a publication that long ran pieces from Steve Deace. :)
November 29th, 2021 at 10:16 PM ^
Do you really think Kelly makes that little? That would put him 33% below the 13th highest paid coach in the Big Ten. I don't trust SI to get information that isn't public knowledge. They are just barely getting by on the reputation of their former publication.
November 29th, 2021 at 11:15 PM ^
As OA said above ND made those salaries public. So yeah it may be true...
November 29th, 2021 at 6:30 PM ^
And his loss to UC.
So satisfying.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:39 PM ^
This should be interesting.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:40 PM ^
Why would BK made that jump? Doesn’t make any sense to me. Going from ND where you are always in the hunt for a CFP bid to the SEC? No thanks.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^
I have no idea what Kelly values, but I can imagine LSU offering more cash and a far more liberal (in the non-political sense) approach to recruiting.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
Not to mention a far more fertile recruiting ground with no competition. LSU is either the easiest or second easiest place in the country to win (it's either there or OSU) based on the abundance of automatic in-state talent.
Three different coaches have won national titles with LSU in the past twenty years. That's staggering. Two of them are Les Miles and Ed Orgeron! The only other program with more than one national title coach this century? OSU of course.
Everywhere else has proven to be highly dependent on the coach (even Alabama). LSU is a machine though.
The one downside is that division is brutal. So ND might be a bit more comfortable but the ceiling is lower. If his ego wants to see if he can elevate himself to Saban/Urban status, he'd be better off at LSU.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
There is indeed a ton of local talent there, but pre-Saban, it mostly left the state - often to us (Anthony Thomas, Chris Howard, James Hall, Ron Bellamy...) - and for a long time LSU was nothing at all. I'd like to see that resume.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:18 PM ^
And Ohio talent also used to leave (often to us as well) but that happens less often now. My theory is that it's somewhat social media related. These kids get skewered if they go to a rival. They can't even go home. It's almost like a form of cancel culture or at least the mechanisms behind it are similar. It's just too easy now for strangers to impact a kids life negatively.
And since literally every resident of Louisiana is a Tigers fan and every resident of Ohio is a Buckeye fan, there's a mob mentality. It's not like leaving Michigan where half the people might be salty but the other half are just happy that you didn't go to their rival. States with multiple programs have more of a tolerance for allowing kids choices it seems.
Saban knew the state was a sleeping giant (they also did have some success before him) and they're not going back.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:05 PM ^
Nowadays I would rank UGA #1 for built in recruiting advantages, LSU #2. USC has to be up there too. The HS talent in Ohio isn't quite what it once was and Georgia has ascended to the #4 state.
Notre Dame is a special case. I don't think they have ever depended on local players. Like it or not, they're a national school, with a leg up at Catholic high schools all over.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:23 PM ^
Yes, you're right, UGA is in that conversation but they're #3. There is more talent in GA, but the fence around the state isn't like what it is around LA or OH which outweighs the talent difference.
ND can't depend on local players, there just aren't enough (although they've always done well in the Chicago area).
November 29th, 2021 at 5:49 PM ^
Maybe LSU has a lax view on negligent homicide? Wait, apparently ND has that too. So that's a push. Nevermind.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:55 PM ^
That's what I was thinking. He can implement more of his sleaziness he had at GVSU back one more time.
November 29th, 2021 at 7:35 PM ^
Elaborate on sleaziness at GVSU plz?
November 29th, 2021 at 6:28 PM ^
He has proven he can recruit and win at ND and despite the amount of his disclosed salary, I bet his total compensation is 2-3x more than what was disclosed. I'm sure ND can match any offer from LSU and despite the easier recruiting in LSU, the path to the playoffs is much more difficult -- even if they remove the ND backdoor entry for being an independent.
The guy wasn't run out of town when he contributed to the death of more than one student nor was he run out of town when they went 4-8. Why turn down what appears to be a pretty solidly cool seat for one that will be burning hot the first time his offense doesn't live up to expectations
November 29th, 2021 at 6:02 PM ^
I can think of ~$7M/year reasons.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:06 PM ^
Going from ND where you are always in the hunt for a CFP bid to the SEC? No thanks.
The Riley move is interesting, because he chose the easier path at USC vs either SEC team (LSU, Oklahoma). Wonder if we'll see a trend of coaches avoiding the cannibalizing SEC. Top coaching has always been one of their advantages
November 29th, 2021 at 5:43 PM ^
Sounds like his agent is looking for a raise, which makes sense. I don't see why he'd go to the SEC when he's got a really nice path to the playoffs every year at ND.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:54 PM ^
Brian Kelly is running scared from Lincoln Riley at USC! /s
November 29th, 2021 at 5:43 PM ^
Oklahoma to USC I get and would make the same move.
Notre Dame to LSU? That’s tough. You can get better talent at LSU so you can have a higher ceiling, but you’re road to success is so much more difficult and hard to sustain. Whereas if he stays at Notre Dame he can make the playoffs a lot, especially when they expand. Not to mention he has two consecutive poor years in LSU and he’s looking for another job. Of course that could end up resulting in him double dipping so maybe it’s not a bad financial thing in the long run.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:04 PM ^
You don’t get to really double dip. If you get fired from a job and made $9 million and you take a new job for $6 million, the old place only pays $3. You could take a year off and still make $9 though which is a good way to live for a few years even if you want to get back into coaching. Not sure if contract language is more specific about the type of work you have to pursue but you don’t get $9+$6 in my scenario.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:30 PM ^
You can negotiate whatever you want. If he doesn't want to include offset language in his contract in the event of termination, he can negotiate it to be removed.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:04 PM ^
So hire an agent and lawyer to help you sign contracts so they say what you want them to? ? interesting
November 29th, 2021 at 10:21 PM ^
Nowadays the standard for coaches seems to be that they get 50% of their new salary deducted from their buyout, rather than the 100% from ten years ago or so.
It's better for both sides as the former coach has more incentive to find a new coaching job.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
I think Kelly would be even more successful at LSU. He has no morals and could get away with more there.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:46 PM ^
The one thing I would say is that Alabama seems to be coming back to Earth some. Nick Saban is slipping and will probably retire soon. Not saying they’re bad obviously they are extremely talented but there seems to be some opportunity for somebody to come to the SEC West and seize control.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:58 PM ^
They won the National Championship less than 12 months ago. They are 11-1 on the year. Doesn’t matter what the wins look like, they are 11-1. They are in the SEC championship again. Exactly 1 win from another CFP. Oh, let us not forget that they had 36 players drafter last year (only a slight exaggeration for effect). They have 7 seniors on this team and they currently have the #2 recruiting class in America per 247.
If someone was going to seize control of the SEC West then it would have been this season AND it still didn’t happen.
I feel fairly confident in saying Alabama will be just fine moving forward.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:36 PM ^
If Bama loses to Georgia, which they will, they’ll have two losses and will be bound for Tampa to play in the Outback Bowl.
Also, Saban probably retires in the next 2-3 years.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:52 PM ^
Pretty sure Bama would go to the Sugar Bowl if they lose the SEC Champ game
November 29th, 2021 at 6:00 PM ^
I mean, they're the defending national champs one win away from being the 1 seed in this years CFP with the Heisman favorite and the #1 recruiting class in 2021 so I don't know if they're coming back to earth so much as being ever so slightly vulnerable (which they are every few years).
November 29th, 2021 at 6:22 PM ^
It is hard to read someone as driven as Nick Saban but I suspect he will retire soon. Saban is the system so Alabama is likely to return to pre-Saban levels (0.600 in the SEC) after he departs.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
Has to be an agent rumor. ND is a top 5 job. He’s not a young guy. I’m sure he’s looking for 1 last contract.
That being said, looking forward to USC kicking his ass in a year or two.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:49 PM ^
Let’s do the math here for BK’s agent:
1) Come up with LSU offer idea based on either a) nothing or b) small feeler as part of exhaustive first round of search firm contact(s): Time spent: 5 minutes
2) Call in a favor with friend at LSU (ie second source for reporter): Time Spent: 10 minutes, including hold time
3) Time spent re-negotiating: 2 hours
4) Expected raise for BK: $15 million over 5 years (conservative)
5) Agent cut (at 8%): approximately 1.2 million, or 500k per hour of work.
Not bad
November 29th, 2021 at 5:49 PM ^
Hiring a murderer is an odd way to move on after firing Coach O, allegedly in part for off-field transgressions
November 29th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
I could see this. Kelly is 60, and may not believe that he can actually win a national title at Notre Dame. Sure, he can make the playoffs, but last year was the most competitive of the playoff/BCS Championship games he's been in--and it took a touchdown in the last minute to bring the score to 31-14.
At LSU, he can bring in more talent and he stands a better chance of winning it all.
He may also have issues with the Notre Dame administration, or he may just want a big payout before he retires.
I don't know if it will happen, but I suspect either way he's getting a raise.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:53 PM ^
He's not going there.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:54 PM ^
He's an above-average coach. If they want to pay him $12M a year to finish 8-5 every year at LSU, have fun.
They lost the Riley sweepstakes and they're in a panic if they're looking at Kelly. Many worse hired could be made but it's a panic move. Yet, maybe you have to panic in the current atmosphere of CFB? Between the portal and early signing day, maybe you do have to just get the warmest body you can find?!
November 29th, 2021 at 6:05 PM ^
Kelly is a top 5 coach based on what he's doing at ND. 12M a year is a bargain compared to what the market is paying now. His age is the only slight downside from the LSU perspective. He is more likely to turn the job down than they are to pass on him if he's available.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:47 PM ^
Beating bad ACC teams every year doesn’t impress me. He would be Kirk Ferentz if he was in the Big Ten. Mediocre most years with a good team every once in a while