Brian Kelly doing Brian Kelly things

Submitted by crg on September 5th, 2022 at 7:40 AM

To the surprise of almost no one, Brian Kelly is being his typical self after the (hilarious) close loss to Florida State last night.

Said this during his post game comments: 

https://mobile.twitter.com/jeff_nowak/status/1566643872113082368

And, within an hour or two of this comment, the kid in question promptly deleted all references to LSU from his Twitter & Instagram accounts.

https://mobile.twitter.com/_phenomenole/status/1566648963297644544

And that was the *second* LSU starter to do so after the game, the first being Kayshon Boutte.

https://twitter.com/cfbtalkdaily/status/1566638747172618240?s=21&t=2hgezi8BJ0UNjrP2GZVBxw

Just normal "family" things.

NeverPunt

September 5th, 2022 at 7:46 AM ^

Kayshon Boutte was a 5 Star WR in the class of 2020. Malik Nabers was a 4 star, top 150 WR in the class of 2021, FWIW. these aren't walk-ons he's pissing off. 

God, Brian Kelly is the worst.

MGolem

September 5th, 2022 at 9:16 AM ^

Both players, for all their talent, played like shit. Brian Kelly is an ass and deserves every bad thing he has coming his way but he isn’t wrong. I’m surprised their special teams coach, whoever that is, wasn’t roasted as well. Two dropped punts, two kicks blocked. Unreal. 

ldevon1

September 5th, 2022 at 10:05 AM ^

Is stating the obvious really dissing your players? Kayshon Boutte came across as a whiny little (you know). I don't like Kelly but this is more on the players than him. I wonder what kind of NIL deals these guys have. I expect to see a lot of pouting this year from players not getting the ball or just making mistakes. They're getting paid now, the level of expectations and responsibility just went up.

Blue in Paradise

September 5th, 2022 at 10:18 AM ^

You don't throw your kids under the bus in public unless they are not giving full effort.

Nabors was distraught when he dropped that second punt and they made a nice catch on the last drive - why not talk about "resiliency"?

Don't get me wrong - say what you gotta say to the team in the locker room and in practice, you just don't trash them in public to the media.

M Vader

September 5th, 2022 at 11:05 AM ^

This.  I could tell thst kid felt so bad.  He thought he had just let his team down and he was the reason that they would lose.  Everyone has had a moment like that in their life, so a person with empathy would have to realize what he is going through.  To get back on the field and contribute on that last drive when he must be facing great self doubt was what should be emphasized.  

Yes I get that as an LSU star he is making NIL money, but I would still empathize with him even if he was an NFL multimillionaire to some extent.   He might also lose NIL money if the people paying him are feeling vindictive,  or he might worry that that is so.  As the deleting of the social media indicates,  maybe he will also transfer.

MGolem

September 5th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^

I am not condoning Kelly’s antics. In fact I hate both him and his approach and love Harbaugh’s in terms of how he deals with players disappointing. My comment was simply that those two players did not play well. At all. Boutte possibly even more so than Nabers. And was mostly for the benefit of those who did not see the game. 

BTB grad

September 5th, 2022 at 11:28 AM ^

Exactly. For example, Harbaugh after the game Saturday said Cade “played really well” even though he went 9/18 for 75 yards if you remove the YAC from Roman’s TD, far from “playing really well.” There’s no use in shitting on a college player publicly in a presser. What does it accomplish?

BTB grad

September 5th, 2022 at 8:15 PM ^

One of the complaints about Cade is he doesn’t take downfield shots. He didn’t really showcase any improvement or willingness on that front Saturday. The 61 yard TD screen pass wasn’t really a downfield passing play but it doubles his YPA from 4 to 8 and gives a very different picture of his overall play.

JonathanE

September 5th, 2022 at 8:12 PM ^

Where exactly is the diss? 

That you feel comfortable that he was going to do a great job "And that wasn't the case."

Look everyone who watched the game knew that Nabers screwed up really-really bad. If that is what qualifies as being thrown under the bus, then perhaps there are too many snowflakes out here. 

I am far from a Kelly fan and for most of the game was wanting Kelly to lose but sort of got behind LSU on that last drive. I'm sorry but when you play big time college football and ask around for NIL money you have to have thicker skin than that comment. 

Wendyk5

September 5th, 2022 at 10:02 AM ^

I wouldn't let my kid play for him. And I believe in merit-based play - if you're not cutting it, even if you're my kid, next man up. Brian Kelly is a horrible, purple-faced, narcissistic human who has no idea how to get the best out of players. I hope he fails miserably. What a dick. 

Bo Harbaugh

September 5th, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^

It’s not about right or wrong.  You break the player down in the locker room, or go even lighter if he’s sensitive and break him down 1 on 1 in the coach’s office.  All players are different, so need be motivated differently

That, of course, assumes that your goal is to get the most out of the player, and given their respective 4 and 5 star talent, there’s probably something there. But if your goal is to deflect blame, shit on your players, and act as if your game plan was just stellar if not for these incompetent kids…then you pull a Purple Face and go to the media.

Fwiw, FSU remarkably didn’t score on either of the muffed punts inside the 10. Foregoing a fg in the 1st half and fumbling it away at the goal line in the 4th. 

gbdub

September 5th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^

I mean there’s a tactful way to say “yeah obviously he didn’t have a great game” and it’s not “we evaluated him for 4 weeks and we clearly made a mistake with that”.  
 

You say “He’s been a hard worker and a great performer all through camp - obviously there are a couple plays he wants back today, but he has my full confidence that he’s going to bounce back, learn from these mistakes and perform at the level we’ve all seen him capable of”. 

Bo Harbaugh

September 5th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^

Yep, coach speak to the media should always be very different from what is said in the locker room or in practice.  There is a reason coaches give "boring" press conferences, specifically regarding their players - unless the player is deserving of immense praise.  Confidence is everything, and in this day and age of insane media coverage, including lunatics on social media, Kelly just shit on the kid via this specific channel.

Very bad move, totally narcissistic and self serving, and ends up hurting the kid's confidence and team's faith in the coach to have their back going forward. 

This is literally the worst way to handle a player having the worst game, and probably public moment of his life.  When they're down - you build them up.  When they get too high - you bring them back to earth.

But Kelly only knows one way his entire career -and that's lionize Brian Kelly.

MadMatt

September 5th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^

Call me crazy, but I suspect the young men's decision to delete their social media accounts had a lot more to do with whatever the LSU "fans" (who describe themselves as "coon-asses") are tweeting at them. We forget just how young these players are, and they will probably be much healthier pursuing their careers off SM.

Midukman

September 5th, 2022 at 7:54 AM ^

Brian Kelly fits in at LSU about as well as my rusty assed f250 with a tool box does on south beach. There’s been some strange hires, then there’s this one. 

LBSS

September 5th, 2022 at 7:59 AM ^

Bill Barnwell said on Twitter that he'd spend $50 per game for a PPV of Coach O giving unfiltered commentary on Kelly-led LSU games, and man, hell yeah.