LSU Football: How the Tigers are committed to winning under Brian Kelly

LSU Football head coach Brian Kelly made a massive hire this weekend by stealing Jamar Cain away from Lincoln Riley and USC.

Cain, who was at Oklahoma under Riley, was set to join the USC staff after the Sooners’ bowl game.

According to 247Sports, Cain likely would’ve had a co-defensive coordinator title with the Trojans. The deal was essentially done.

And then Kelly swooped in and convinced Cain to come to Baton Rouge.

So how did Kelly make it happen?

Unsurprisingly, money was a big factor.

LSU Football isn’t afraid to spend on assistant coaches

247Sports’ Shea Dixon reported this weekend that LSU went hard after Cain. They found out what it would take to get him to LSU and that’s what they offered.

According to Dixon, Cain will be making “around $900,000” at LSU.

That’s a lot of money for a position coach. But that tells us two things.

For one, it tells us how much Kelly and the Tigers value Cain.

The California native has a reputation as being one of the best nationwide recruiters in college football. He’s also a pretty good position coach. It’s someone that Kelly felt he needed on staff and he made it happen.

This move also shows us just how committed the Tigers are to winning.

Kelly’s a great coach. But LSU’s success in the coming years will largely be dependent on the staff that Kelly has around him. It’s clear that LSU is going to spare no expense when it comes to hiring quality assistants — even if they have to go above what seems reasonable (that’s going to entice more coaches to join the Tigers’ staff in the future, too).

LSU isn’t messing around right now. The Tigers are eying a national championship and they’re going to do whatever it takes to make that happen.