Less than four years after being hired away from Notre Dame, Brian Kelly has been fired by LSU, according to multiple reports on Sunday.
Kelly, who recorded a 34-14 record with the Tigers, was shown the door one day after his 20th-ranked Tigers turned an 18-14 halftime lead into a 49-25 home loss to No. 3 Texas A&M.
The result was so dispiriting, fans in Tiger Stadium chanted “Fire Kelly” and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry weighed in on social media Saturday night: “I think @LSUSports and the LSU Board of Supervisors needs to rethink their actions to raise ticket prices for next year after tonight’s showing!”
According to CBS Sports, Landry also was involved in Sunday’s discussions that led to Kelly’s ousting. The team was scheduled to hear the news officially during a meeting at 8 p.m. CT. Kelly will be owed about $54 million in a contract buyout, according to reports.
LSU (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) opened its season 4-0 to climb as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, but the Tigers dropped three of their last four to fall out of the poll released Sunday. It’s the second year in a row LSU has tumbled out of the Top 25 during the latter half of the season.
Those nosedives are in sharp contrast to the successes of Kelly’s predecessors at LSU. Nick Saban went 13-1 and won the 2003 national championship in his fourth season, Les Miles went 12-2 and won the 2007 BCS Championship in his third season and Ed Orgeron went 15-0 to claim the 2019 BCS title in his third full season.
Kelly, on the other hand, led the Tigers to the 2022 Citrus Bowl, the 2023 ReliaQuest Bowl and the 2024 Texas Bowl.
The 64-year-old Kelly, who became Notre Dame’s winningest coach before jumping to Baton Rouge, becomes the third high-profile coach to be fired in as many Sundays as Penn State dismissed James Franklin on Oct. 12 and Florida fired Billy Napier on Oct. 19.
UCLA, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Arkansas, UAB and Colorado State also have ousted their head coaches since this season began.
