LSU stuns everyone by landing Brian Kelly from Notre Dame, just when you thought the college football coaching carousel couldn't get any more crazy. Is this a good move for the Tigers? What does this mean for the Irish team? What could possibly happen next? Reporters break it down.
Is this a good move for LSU and Brian Kelly?
I don't know what makes for a good hire anymore, but I don't think this is a good fit. Kelly has been a coach in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana his entire career. He's going to Louisiana to try to establish relationships. The timing is odd, because he just hired Marcus Freeman as his defensive coach at Notre Dame and Kelly was recruiting at the highest level he has recruited at with the Irish. He had established a foundation with the assistant coaches and was building some momentum for the future.
I understand the idea that Kelly will be a fish out of water in Baton Rouge. I can't imagine him peeling a crawfish. The program was taken over by someone in late 1999. When he arrived at LSU, Nick Saban didn't have a single tie to the region. He won a national championship in 2003 while coaching in the Big Ten. I wonder if Kelly's thought process in choosing LSU was the same as it was when he looked around at Michigan State and realized that LSU was a gold mine in a state with the highest number of NFL players per capita.
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward was determined to get a big name. One of the most storied programs in college football is led by Brian Kelly. In the past three years, he has been able to recruit nationally at an elite level and has led Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff in two of those years. The big question with Kelly is whether or not he will be able to recruit in the SEC for everyone. Can he consistently recruit against the likes of Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and Jimbo Fisher? The previous staff had some of the best recruiters. He shouldn't start on the recruiting trail again.
Woodward promised LSU fans he'd land a whale, but it wasn't Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher or Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley, he plucked one of the biggest names in the sport. Knute Rockne's run at Notre Dame was the best in the school's history, but Kelly's run was the second best. I don't know if he's the right fit for the Tigers, but he was the best option left on the board. He and his staff won't have a problem recruiting in talent-rich Louisiana because he recruited well at Notre Dame.
What will Kelly's biggest challenge be?
Building out his coaching staff and larger recruiting infrastructure is the priority. Think about Kelly's past. He has been a coach in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. That doesn't scream SEC. Being at LSU requires owning the state of Louisiana and winning more battles in the Southeast than Kelly could at Notre Dame. Building relationships in places like New Orleans, Houston and Atlanta are required. Those relationships are hard to forge. Kelly will need some familiar faces to help keep the talent at LSU open.
Heather Dinich doesn't want to recruit or anything. It is easy to sell and comes with the territory. The priority is the culture and the acknowledgement of a Title IX lawsuit. The program is being investigated by the NCAA. LSU's national title has received the most attention, but the university's failures off of it can no longer be ignored. The lawsuit, which was first filed in April and accuses LSU of failing to properly investigate sexual misconduct allegations, doesn't involve Kelly, but he will inherit the situation. It did not leave with Orgeron. Kelly has to win big and do it the right way every step of the way. Kelly's tenure at Notre Dame has not been perfect. Notre Dame was placed on one-year probation for recruiting violations. It's not as bad as the allegations LSU is currently facing, but there can't be any more mistakes in Baton Rouge.
Kyle Hamilton, who is from Atlanta, was Kelly's best player at Notre Dame. The first Irish defensive lineman to be drafted in the first round in 22 years is from Shreveport, Louisiana. Kelly has recruited players from the South. LSU is one of the top two or three jobs in the country because almost every kid in that state dreams of playing for the Tigers. In Georgia, a lot of kids want to play for the Bulldogs, but many end up playing for other teams because there are so many of them. Kids from California go to school all over the country. Kelly and his staff will not have a problem with recruiting. His biggest challenge is cleaning up the mess that he created. LSU's culture was broken, players were opting out, and the coaching staff was a mess.
Adam needs to show he can be a lead snatcher. Kelly is an excellent delegator, but recruiting doesn't drive him the way it does some of the coaches he will compete with in the SEC. His adjustment to the way head coaches must recruit to succeed in this region will be significant. Kelly knows how to develop players. He has recruited players from the region to Notre Dame. It's not clear whether he can program himself to dig into recruiting like the top coaches.
What should Notre Dame do now?
I think Marcus Freeman should be the Notre Dame head coach. He has done a great job in recruiting at Notre Dame. He is a young coach who knows how to relate to his players and has a good relationship with them. It would make for an easy adjustment, and I don't know who else would make a splash. The staff has done a great job this season and I think that the staff could build off of that, as they have a lot of what it takes to be a head coach.
Fickell, Fickell, Fickell. It makes perfect sense that Fickell would take over a program that is already a playoff contender and is in excellent shape.
It's almost too easy. Fickell checks every box. He is a solid person and would thrive in the Notre Dame culture. He's a lifelong Midwesterner and has done a great job of transforming Cincinnati's program into a national contender. The tricky part is what he would do if the team makes the playoffs. He's not the type to just walk away from his team with so much at stake, so how would he navigate that timetable?
It's a two-hour drive from South Bend, Indiana, to Evanston, Illinois. I'm going to knock on Pat Fitzgerald's door and make him tell me no because he has done his time and he has to know. Unlike most head-coaching opportunities, he wouldn't be taking over a program that has fallen on hard times at Notre Dame. He doesn't have to get on a plane to make a run at the playoffs.
If the Bearcats make the playoffs, Notre Dame will have to wait for Fickell. The Irish are going to have to be patient if he's the best candidate because big-time programs don't want to do that.
Unless Notre Dame is willing to wait until January, the timing might be off for Fickell. Matt Campbell is a strong choice to replace Kelly. He knows the area well after spending all of his collegiate career in his home state of Ohio. Despite his age and lack of head-coaching experience, he would be a smart choice. He will get a big-time job soon, so why not hire him now?
Could this affect Notre Dame's playoff hopes?
Dinich: No. Notre Dame's 11-1 record is all the selection committee will consider. The committee would treat it the same as a team that could lose a key starter for a semifinal because of injury or suspension, regardless of the situation. In the regular-season finale, Ohio State quarterback J.T.Barrett was injured. Cardale Jones would be the third-string quarterback for the Big Ten championship. The committee didn't evaluate Ohio State without him. The committee moved the Buckeyes up one spot because of their win against Michigan. To this point, they would evaluate Notre Dame the same way.
I hope not. Everything in college football is broken if the Irish are punished for their coach bailing on them before they are told they are in the playoffs. That would be sad.
What is the next domino in the coaching carousel?
I'm not sure about Oklahoma's situation. I don't know who the Sooners can hire to duplicate what Lincoln Riley has done there. Sooners fans don't want to hear this, but he brought a cool factor to Oklahoma in addition to his high-powered offense. It was everything the recruits wanted. A lot of prospects were going to Oklahoma more for Riley than the school. There aren't many young coaches who can give Oklahoma the same feel.
What if Miami decides to fire the player? The Hurricanes are looking for a new athletic director after firing one. Whoever is hired as AD will have to decide if they want to keep the Hurricanes' coach, who is 21-15 in three seasons. Would the Hurricanes be able to get Mario Cristobal away from Oregon and back to South Florida if they were to let go of Diaz? Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin loves South Florida and might be the one to take over for Miami. The coaching carousel might not be over soon.
Miami is definitely a place to watch, especially with the athletic director situation. I am interested to see what Oklahoma's Joe Castiglione does after Riley's exit. The program wasn't close to winning a national title with Riley, and many around OU are upset about that. I think this is a chance for Oklahoma to restore its identity on defense and bring in someone with a personnel vision to lead the program into the SEC and back to the national championship stage.
Everyone is going to be watching Oklahoma after Lincoln Riley traded in the SEC recruiting octagon for the Los Angeles sunshine, and who could blame him? But what about Duke? Yes, Duke. We know who Mike Krzyzewski's replacement will be in hoops, but it will be difficult to replace David Cutcliffe on the football sideline. Duke foreclosed on football before Cutcliffe arrived, and he built the program back from the ashes. The Blue Devil's made an appearance in the conference championship game after returning to the bowl scene. The new administration at Duke has to decide what is realistic expectations at Duke, because Cutcliffe set the bar as high as anyone since Steve Spurrier won a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 1989.
