Nearly a year after his LSU tenure ended, Brian Kelly returned to the sport Saturday as a color analyst for CBS Sports Network. He joined play-by-play man Rich Waltz and Adam Breneman for North Dakota State’s matchup with Jacksonville State, giving the former Notre Dame and LSU coach his first taste of college football from the other side of the microphone. And he seemed to enjoy the change.
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“I’m excited because I got a new view at this game,” Brian Kelly said during the opening moments of the broadcast via Awful Announcing. “It’s in a box, 30 years on the sideline, Adam, so this is awesome.”
The audience, however, had its own review. Brian Kelly’s coaching resume is strong enough that nobody needs to introduce him. He spent 35 seasons as a college head coach, working his way from Grand Valley State to Cincinnati, Notre Dame and eventually LSU. He won 113 games at Notre Dame, the most in school history, before making the jump to Baton Rouge in 2022.
LSU won the SEC West in Brian Kelly’s first year, but things went downhill from there. The Tigers went 10-4, 10-3 and 9-4 from 2022 to 2024. Then came a 5-3 start in 2025 and a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M. LSU fired him the next day. Then came the $54 million buyout. He hasn’t ruled out coaching again, but says he’d need the right job. For now, he’s in the booth, where fans quickly had plenty to say.
One watcher apparently couldn’t get past Brian Kelly’s animated delivery, asking, “Is he getting paid per hand gesture?”
Another reaction was even less forgiving. “Sorry, you just can’t ‘undouche’ a douchebag, Brian Kelly,” they commented.
That hostility didn’t appear out of nowhere. Brian Kelly has long been one of the sport’s more polarizing coaches, with critics pointing to his sideline outbursts, his blunt treatment of players and coaches, and the way his departures from previous jobs unfolded.
“Someone put the biggest asshole ever in CFB behind a microphone,” another commented. “I’m shocked. Hitler wasn’t available??”
His coaching history also gives detractors plenty of material. He left Cincinnati for Notre Dame before the Bearcats’ bowl game in 2009. He later left Notre Dame for LSU while the Fighting Irish were still in the playoff picture. So when Brian Kelly finally sat behind a microphone, some fans brought all of that baggage with them.
One person wondered, “Can it be his last game too?”
Another offered an even shorter verdict writing, “What a horrendous booth.”
Still, the debut wasn’t universally panned. Some viewers liked Brian Kelly’s football insight. Others suggested they actually preferred him as an analyst to the coach they had grown accustomed to watching.
There is also a learning curve. Brian Kelly spent three decades controlling games from the sideline. In a three-man booth, he has to pick his spots, share airtime and resist the instinct to command the conversation. That may take time. But if the goal was to get people talking about him again, mission accomplished.