Brian Kelly‘s arrival in 2022 was going to be star-studded as the head coach came after a stellar 2018 season with Notre Dame and incredible work with the team over the decade. He backed his resume, too, with his heroics. Won the SEC West division even after he inherited just 39 scholarship players. Everyone thought that this was the coach LSU wanted, and Kelly would easily bring the Natty back in one or two years. The thought was surely good, but the result?

Cut short to this season, and the head coach has failed to win anything, the only highlight of his years remains the Heisman trophy won by Jayden Daniels in 2023. Now, patience sure is running thin as the Kelly finished 9-4 overall last season when the CFB expanded to 12 12-team playoff. The offense regressed significantly (28.6 points per game), and their SEC prestige also fell down due to their poor yards gained per play. But this wasn’t where the woes ended.

The late collapse in the 2024 season is still a concern for LSU, as they lost three consecutive games, starting from Texas A&M, Alabama, and then against the Gators. This is not the norm for the LSU fan base, who are accustomed to winning national titles under different head coaches. That’s why Kelly needs to perform and win a Natty in 2025. But a wholly other theory was discussed in a recent episode of Josh Pate’s podcast.

Josh Pate speculated about the concerning prediction that said, “Brian Kelly is done at LSU before Thanksgiving.” The analyst then said, “Is he fired? Don’t know. The prediction is just that he’s done there.” The analyst then said that LSU is going for the SEC title this year and Kelly won’t go anywhere. Such a prediction, if true, would push the program off track. But he noted that “I don’t think the season’s going off the rails.” But he then backed it up by saying, “However, longtime viewers of the show will note that I have been wrong a time or two.”

Well, right now the team is ranked 9th in recruiting rankings with 18 transfers coming into the program. These include players like Barion Brown from Kentucky, Ja’Keem Jackson from the Gators, Nick Anderson from Oklahoma, and Patrick Payton from FSU. Apart from these high-caliber transfers, LSU is also returning with 14 starters from the Texas Bowl, including All-SEC linebacker Whit Weeks, although he is injured right now, and their stalwart QB Garrett Nussmeier. Sure, all of these look quite good to hear, and all in all, the team is expected to play well. But given the past years’ debacles, the fans aren’t quite sure about Kelly.

Brian Kelly gets Nick Saban’s expose?

Now with the high expectations that are coming with LSU’s 2025 season, Kelly might be the man on the hot seat, too. However, the schedule? Well, that is something of a concern for the team as they have some challenging fixtures, including Clemson in the first week, and later Gators, Ole Miss, Aggies, Alabama, and lastly Oklahoma on the road. The schedule is quite tough, and the rumblings have grown.

Mike Bratton, the host of That SEC Podcast, had a bitter take on Brian Kelly that involved Nick Saban, too. It started on a seemingly sweet note: “I think it’s fair to say—I’m not saying Brian Kelly’s better than Nick Saban, obviously you’d be a fool if you said that. But I think his resume from day one when he got to LSU was vastly superior than what Nick Saban’s resume was when he got to LSU.” Conclusion? “[Kelly is] out of excuses. They’ve got to be better.”

All in all, the 2025 season may well be the last we will see of Brian Kelly as the head coach looks to fall even lower than Ed Orgeron. LSU previously paid $16.9 million to Orgeron for his buyout, as he was shown his way out. Will LSU do that again with Kelly and pay a whopping $60.8 million in buyout money? Well, we have seen Aggies pay even more when they fired Jimbo Fisher and paid him $75 million. Will LSU go the same route?