Brian Kelly never fully received approval as the head coach of the LSU Tigers. It was an awkward cultural fit, and, put simply, he did not meet the standard of success.
ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum is very much of that opinion.
"He was a bad fit from day one," Finebaum said. "His early success helped to overcome some of those issues, but in the end, good riddance."
Kelly finished his first season at LSU with an overall record of 10-4, then went 10-3, 9-4, and 5-3 in the following seasons, in that order. It should be noted that the final record listed was from the 2025 season, the season in which he was fired in October. All together, that's an overall record of 34-14 in his time at LSU.
While that is not a bad record for a head coach, it does not align with what LSU is used to seeing from one of the most dominant programs, not only in the SEC, but in college football. Kelly's downfall is that he showed no signs of being able to win a national championship -- or even get to one.
That's the biggest problem here. After all, three of LSU's past four head coaches have won a national title game.
Shortly after his termination, Kelly claimed he was fired for not winning enough, which aligns with that line of thinking.
LSU moving on from Brian Kelly was the right move, and inevitable
LSU hired Lane Kiffin in November of 2025. Kiffin has never won a national championship as a head coach, and it's something he will definitely have to prove at the helm of the Tigers.
But a major difference is that not only does Kiffin seem to be a better cultural fit in Baton Rouge, he's also arguably the best recruiter in college football.
Kelly had an aura of awkwardness around him, but that wasn't everything, obviously. In fact, Finebaum himself has even pointed out that he finds Kiffin to be a pretty awkward individual himself. However, he sees Kiffin as a coach who brings more value and who can overcome that level of awkwardness in a way that Kelly cannot.
"As far as Lane Kiffin being awkward, that's who he is," Finebaum said. "It doesn't matter where he's been. He's the same person... he doesn't like interpersonal communication. For some reason, he's been able to overcome that when it comes to recruiting because he's a very good recruiter."
Kiffin has proven his worth already, turning around a career that appeared to be headed only downward at one point in time. Just when it looked like things were close to over for him, he hit a high note by taking a lowly Ole Miss team who hardly ever made any noise in the SEC, to a team that landed some of the best recruits in the nation and could compete for a national title.
It could even be argued that if Kiffin had been able to coach through the College Football Playoff, Ole Miss would have had a chance to make it to the big game.
That's not to say Pete Golding did not do a fine job taking over when he did, but between the distraction Kiffin's departure caused and the fact that he's simply a better coach, it is a fair argument to make.
Regardless, that's all in the past now. Kiffin's job now is to carry that success to an LSU program that has fallen from grace.
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