I wasn't sold on Kelly at first, but its grown on me

At first, I was slightly deflated. I had questions about his age, his lack of ever coaching in the south, of his teams failing at a high level.

But the more I think about it, the more I think he could be a home run hire.

He's driven. He has a vision for what he wants. He's just enough of an @$$hole that he'll push and demand from the admins what he wants (hopefully getting rid of certain unnecessarily over stringent testing, etc.).

Yes, he's never coached down here, but he's recruited down here before. He's not completely foreign to it. And with some success, some of his national recruiting contacts from ND may bear some LSU fruit. Especially OL where Louisiana seems to struggle.

Speaking of OL, he wants the trenches to be strong.

His age - we can't do anything about (I'd be happier if he were 5-8 years younger) but plenty of coaches have down well into their early 70s. And he's a driven guy so motivation shouldn't be a problem.

My last question was his inability to get over the hump while at ND. He's had recruiting constraints academically, definitely limited him on some athletes. And then I asked myself if I'd thought at the time that Notre Dame had any chance of beating Clemson or Alabama, and no, I thought they would get blown out both times. So I don't hold that against him. His teams were overmatched.

I believe there's a good chance he will be like Saban and Miles - take the skill set obvious in places where you can't win it all as easily, apply the recruiting advantages LSU can bring, and win it all.

I'm eagerly waiting on his coordinator hires, and hopeful for the best.