Brian Kelly Sure Sounds Interested In The Freshly Open Florida State Job

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Former LSU football coach Brian Kelly sounds interested in the newly opened Florida State head coaching job after just over a year since he was fired by LSU on Oct. 26, 2025.

“Yeah, I mean, look, when you’re talking to an unemployed football coach, every job’s a great job, you know? But Florida State, look, I’ve got a great history with Florida State, great games,” Kelly said Tuesday on Sirius XM radio’s College Sports Radio. “I know what that’s like – the history and tradition of Florida State, playing in that state, and the fan base.”

@On3 Brian Kelly showing up in Tallahassee: https://t.co/fjOiSIMEYp

— College Sports Only (@CSOonX) November 3, 2026

Florida State just fired Mike Norvell, 45, on Sunday after a 3-5 and 1-4 (Atlantic Coast Conference) start this season that followed a 5-7 and 2-6 season in 2025. And that was after a 2-10 and 1-7 season in 2024. Norvell just missed the College Football Playoff in 2023 at 13-1 and 8-0 and was 10-3 and 5-3 in 2022. He started with the Seminoles in 2020, going 3-6 and 2-6 and 5-7 and 2-4 in 2021.

LSU Fires Brian Kelly! Replaced By Frank Wilson As Interim Coach, $54 Million Buyout Being “Negotiated”

Kelly, 65, was fired the day after losing, 49-25, at home to No. 3 Texas A&M, knocking him out of the CFP at 5-3 and 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference. But he was 34-14 at LSU from 2022-25 for a .708 winning percentage and 19-10 in the SEC for .655. Kelly was 92-39 as Notre Dame’s coach from 2010-21 with seven seasons of 10 wins or more and two CFP appearances, including a national championship game loss to Alabama in the 2012 season.

“So, anytime you have an incredibly brand driven, great tradition and history, there’s a want and desire to be part of somebody that has had that success,” Kelly said. “And certainly leading that program, from anyone’s perspective, would be an honor and privilege.”

Florida State’s brand has obviously taken a hit in recent years.

“Well, there’s still brand recognition,” Kelly said. “There’s no doubt about that. I don’t think that’s changed. I mean, certainly that is recognizable to anybody that’s involved in any form of athletics. The factors that we have to deal with today is the Indiana factor. If we had this conversation a few years ago, we’d say, ‘Well, Indiana has no brand recognition as it relates to football and they can’t win there.’ But yet they won the national championship (last season). Nothing’s what it used to be! Everything has changed.”

Kelly is owed most of a $54 million buyout from LSU, which fired him without cause with six years left on a 10-year, $100 million contract from then-athletic director Scott Woodward.

That buyout is subtracted minimally by what Kelly draws from his current job as a CBS Sports color analyst for college football. Should he get the Florida State job, LSU’s buyout burden would be subtracted by Florida State’s salary to Kelly. Some schools have hired coaches in a buyout situation on a discount in order to pay that coach a significantly small salary, because the previous school would make up the difference to a more competitive salary.

Kelly lost twice to Florida State as LSU’s coach – 24-23 in his debut with the Tigers in the 2022 season opener at the Superdome in New Orleans and 45-24 in Orlando, Florida, to open the 2023 season.

While at Notre Dame, Kelly was 3-2 against Florida State.