Brian Kelly after year two.

Let me start off by saying mostly what I wrote here was in response to another Tiger fan who voiced displeasure with Brian Kelly and the job he's done so far here at LSU.

After reading it, I kind of felt like it needed its own post, in case there are more people who feel that way, and why it's ridiculous to think that.

So this is basically my own assessment of Brian Kelly, and the job he's performed up to this point. So here it goes ...

Wait, you still think you've been right about Kelly, and that you don't think he's done a good job as coach of the LSU football program ? Seriously ? Kelly still hasn't been given enough credit for the rebuild he's done by a portion fanbase. It's incredible to me that there are people like you that exist.

The biggest complaint I hear from Kelly detractors is this one. "If he would have fielded an even competent defense, we would be in the playoff, vying for a national championship."

So in year 2 of a complete rebuild and cultural overhaul, down to 37 scholarship players on the roster, to having a Heisman winner with the best offense in College Football, the only thing that YOU can glean from that is Kelly isn't a good coach who can't recruit ? Are you fricking serious ?

So because, what, we didn't have back to back #1 recruiting classes and we didn't win a Championship in his second year that he's somehow not lived up to your expectations ?

Or is it because he didn't have the best defense with award winners scattered across the unit to go along with the offense ?

I do get it, to an extent, peoples frustration with the defense this season.

However, this entire program has been playing 1 foot off the ground for the entire time he's been here. The expectations around this program are only as high as they are because of the success Kelly has had since he's been here.

The expectations around here are immense to the point of being unreasonable, yet on at least one side of the ball, he has exceeded them in every measurable statistic that exists.

He took a program in LSU that was going the way Tennessee did for 2 decades, the way Florida has been going since Urban, and revived it in his first year.

In his second year he has an offensive staff that is showing itself to be the very best in the nation. Every single coach on that side of the ball has proven to be both incredible recruiters and peerless in their development of the players they recruit.

Kelly is responsible for putting that staff together, and providing them the culture and opportunity for them to succeed here, and they have.

The defense has struggled, admittedly, but there are tangible, measurable reasons for that. Those things are quantifiable, identifiable, and correctable.

I think that it is completely understandable to have one phase of the game or another struggle to find its own success inside of 3 years of a rebuild like the one that was required here, and I certainly wouldn't use those struggles so early on as reasoning for disparaging the very same coach that raised the expectations around here in the first place.

The best indicator of future performance is past performance. In that regard I have all the confidence in the world that Kelly will address the problems the programs has suffered from thus far and turn that weakness to a strength. The way that leaders and coaches of his caliber do.