Perhaps Biggest of Kelly's Mistakes

Just after Brian Kelly was named to the LSU job, a Notre Dame fan noticed my LSU cap and thanked LSU for taking Kelly off his hands. I asked him why he felt that way since Kelly had been quite successful the three previous seasons in South Bend. He said Kelly was arrogant and nobody liked him.

I recall Kelly bragged that by coming to LSU, he'd never had to get on a plane again to recruit. On his first day in Baton Rouge his schedule was to have some family photos taken while Nick Saban (the morning after winning the SEC title game) was in Shreveport for an in-hme visit with Kendrick Law. (Bama signed him). I've also read an episodes of assistant coaches handing a phone to Kelly asking him talk to an important prospect and having Kelly refuse, saying, "tell him to make an appointment." In fact, I don't recall a time in four years when I've read that Kelly was on a trip for an in-house visit with a key player. (I'm sure he must have).

But the most serious of his many mistakes may be his treatment of strength coach Tommy Moffitt. Moffitt helped make John Curtis High School a national powerhouse, joined an 8-4 University of Tennessee team that went 45-5 over the next four teams and won a national title, joined a 9-4 Miami team that went 22-2 the following two years and, of course, contributed to the LSU team that went to the national championship game four times and won three.

Now at Texas A&M, he helped take a team that was 8-5 in 2024 to 8-0 now. It must have been sweet revenge for Moffitt to watch his Aggies humiliate Kelly and lead to his firing.

Moffitt was the first LSU staffer fired by Kelly when he arrived and he was replace by three "Player Development" coaches. Several former LSU players said the LSU team is now "soft" and Matt Flynn, who led LSU to a national title, said Tommy Moffitt was the most respected member of the athletic department in the view of the players. After two decades with LSU, I don't know if Moffitt would consider returning after what Kelly did to him, but I hope whoever comes in as the next head coach will make every effort to get him back.