By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Former LSU football coach Brian Kelly broke his silence since being fired by LSU last Oct. 26 during an interview on the “Dusty (Dvoracek) and Danny (KAnell) In The Morning” on Sirius XM Radio Friday.
When asked what he has been up to since leaving Baton Rouge and living in Naples, Florida, Kelly cracked, “Well, if you ask LSU, I was playing 350 rounds of golf all through the year and drinking in my office,” Kelly said on the show.
“The thing they didn’t know is I have a torn rotator cuff that I suffered in the Florida game on the sideline,” he said of a collision in the Tigers’ 20-10 win over the Gators on Sept. 13 at Tiger Stadium that was widely reported at the time.
“I got hit by an offensive and defensive lineman, and it tore my rotator cuff,” Kelly said. “So, I haven’t played much golf. I’ve been rehabbing, mostly.”
Among the stories circulated by those at LSU and close to LSU in the weeks and months after Kelly’s firing was one that described Kelly sipping wine in his coaches’ office at the LSU football facility, though that was never reported. Meanwhile, sources told Tiger Rag that Kelly played a lot of golf during football seasons, which has been reported.
Look who won his first big game since beating Nick Saban and Alabama in 2022! Brian Kelly gets last laugh as LSU surrenders and plans to pay him full $54 million buyout:https://t.co/8tOvUwXDPf
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 27, 2025
Kelly and his attorneys battled LSU and its lawyers over his $54 million buyout for several weeks after his firing. In the end, LSU admitted it could’ve only fired Kelly (34-14, .708 winning percentage, 19-10 in SEC, .650) with cause, which meant he will continue to receive that buyout. LSU at first tried to say Kelly could not receive the buyout because it was firing him with cause with six years left on a 10-year, $100 million contract he received to leave Notre Dame after the 2021 season. And then rumors of various, alleged questionable behavior by Kelly began circulating heavily as reasons for such cause.
Several media members automatically believed LSU’s cause angle and were convinced for weeks that Kelly would not receive his buyout. But in the end, LSU apparently could not prove any rumors or allegations as Kelly’s lawyers were clearly better than LSU’s.
Then-LSU athletic director Scott Woodward fired Kelly on Oct. 26 – the day after a 45-24 loss to Texas A&M that dropped the Tigers to 5-3 (2-3 SEC) after a No. 3 ranking early in the season. Woodward as Texas A&M’s athletic director had previously hired Jimbo Fisher from Florida State to a $75 million, 10-year contract in 2017 – less than two years before Woodward left for LSU. Fisher was fired late in a 6-4 and 4-3 season in 2023 with a 45-25 (.642) and 27-21 (.562) record, including a 5-7 and 2-6 season in 2022. The Woodward hire received a record $77 million buyout – more than half of which was on the books from Woodward’s original contract.
LSU fired Woodward four days after he fired Kelly and one day after Louisiana governor Jeff Landry said Woodward would not be hiring LSU’s next football coach, partly because Woodward went 0-for-2 on hugely expensive hires – Fisher, whose deal Landry brought up, and Kelly.
LSU finished the 2025 season at 7-6 under interim coach Frank Wilson.
Kelly’s offense suffered last season as he never had a healthy Garrett Nussmeier at quarterback. Hired in essence to win LSU another national championship, in the end, Kelly was fired because he never reached the College Football Playoff in his four seasons as LSU coach. The closest he came was his first year in 2022 when the Tigers beat Alabama and won the SEC West, finishing 0-4 and 6-2. In three full seasons, his worst mark was 9-4 and 5-3.
With a healthy Nussmeier, Kelly might still be coaching LSU.
To replace Kelly, new LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry hired Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin for $91 million over seven seasons.
Also during the Kelly interview, Dvoracek mentioned that LSU is paying $40 million for its new roster, which is not news.
Tiger Rag has reported multiple times that the new roster would cost approximately $40 million since Kiffin finished collecting his 41-man NCAA Transfer Portal team last January. On3.com’s Pete Nakos also reported a $40 million price tag last month. Lonn Phillips Sullivan – @LSUOdyssey on Twitter – also reported $40 million.
Ausberry previously confirmed to Tiger Rag that the cost of LSU’s roster would be approximately the same as that of Texas’ roster, which has been reported to be approximately $40 million.
“Maybe a little more,” Kelly said when Dvoracek said $40 million.
Asked to elaborate, Kelly said. ”More than 40, I’ll tell you that.”
While discussion the portal and NIL in general, Kelly said, “The revenue is ridiculous,” and then went back to LSU. “I don’t even know how LSU is doing it. They’re paying Lane Kiffin whatever ($91 million over seven years), they’re paying me ($54 million). That’s crazy. That shouldn’t happen. But it is because it’s out there. The problems are real but college football is still in a pretty good place.”
The cost of Kelly’s last roster at LSU in 2025, which included an 18-man, No. 1-ranked transfer portal class, was approximately $20 million.
Kelly also touched on some of his mistakes at LSU.
“Not having enough continuity with the coordinators,” he said was one.
By his third season in 2024, Kelly was already on his second defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator. Original defensive coordinator Matt House was a major disappointment and was correctly fired after two seasons. In 2023, LSU fielded one of the worst defenses in the country and one of the worst in its history. Kelly made a great hire before the 2024 season in Missouri DC Blake Baker, who was retained by Kiffin.
Kelly’s biggest coordinator mistake was letting offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock go after the vastly successful 2023 season on offense with Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Jayden Daniels. Kelly wanted to downgrade Denbrock to co-offensive coordinator and share that title with the unproven Joe Sloan, whose only play calling experience was at Louisiana Tech. Denbrock soon left, returning to Notre Dame, where has been OC since 2024.
Sloan replaced Denbrock as OC at LSU and performed poorly. He was fired a day after Kelly.
“When you bring in coordinators, and you change them that quickly, one of the mistakes that I made is that you need to stay, as the head coach, closer to the next situation (Sloan),” Kelly said. “In other words, you can’t let football get away from you. And I was an offensive coordinator. I called plays for 25 years. I was much more about letting (Sloan) do the job, and I needed to stay more involved in that job.”
Instead of playing golf?
“Xs and Os matter, and you better stay close to that,” he said. “From a continuity standpoint, when you have change and turnover, you better get closer to it.”
One of the major criticisms of Kelly was he didn’t know his players, and they didn’t know him. And some of his assistants – such as secondary coach Corey Raymond – had never even been in his office. Kelly also was not in the office – and possibly not in town – for large amounts of time during the off-season.
“You better get closer to who the players are that you’re bringing in and turning over,” he said Friday – about four years too late. “And you better get closer to your coaches, so you know exactly what’s going on on a day-to-day basis.”
Kelly tried to deflect his end to the climate at LSU, which was a clear reach as he even brought up the exit of unpopular and underperforming LSU president William Tate to Rutgers.
“The situation at LSU got very complex,” he said. “There were a lot of people that were involved.”
Nice spin, BK.
Kelly also discussed a possible return to coaching. While his name was mentioned for some openings after last season, such as Penn State and Michigan, he did not get a job.
“I don’t know that I’ve made the decision that I want to get back in,” he said. “As all the things we’ve talked about, I’d want to see some changes. But I think while you wait, you need to work. And so, I need to stay in the game.”
Kelly, who was the winningest active coach in college football before his LSU firing at 297-109-2, plans on making the rounds during spring football drills.
“My first order of business is this next two, three weeks, I’m going to be visiting some places to see spring ball,” he said, “Get a chance to see some things relative to the football side, the operational side, some of the things we talked about today with NIL, transfer and calendar, and get a temperature in the spring for some things.”
Kelly plans on visiting various teams and his former assistant coaches during the fall as well. Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea and Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko were each assistants under Kelly at Notre Dame. Kelly’s last two losses as LSU’s coach were to Lea and Elko.
“I want to get around and see their program, see how they’re doing, get a sense of where I can grow and I can be better,” he said. “And so, that’s really my focus right now. And then if the right situation comes about and I’m ready, I’m certainly going to entertain that.”
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