Brian Kelly spent over three decades building an impressive record. He won at Grand Valley State, turned Cincinnati into a known national power, and became Notre Dame’s winningest head coach. LSU then gave him a 10-year, $95 million deal because the Tigers believed he could finish the job, but in 2025, it became clear to them he couldn’t. Still, his name might not be ready to fade away just yet.

Less than four years after that deal, LSU fired him after a poor 5-3 start. Now his name is back in the coaching carousel conversation along with Jimbo Fisher, as per On3, and that has not gone down well with college football fans.

There is a reason schools could still pick up the phone for Kelly. He won 92 games at Notre Dame, reached the playoffs two times, and took the Irish to the Natty game more than a decade back. Before that, he turned Cincinnati into a 12-0 team that reached the Sugar Bowl. His LSU tenure was not a complete disaster on paper either.

Kelly went 34-14 overall with the Tigers. His first season ended with a 10-4 record and an SEC Championship Game appearance. In 2023, LSU went 10-3 behind Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy before becoming an NFL quarterback. But LSU did not hire Kelly to produce respectable records.

Brian Kelly has never been short on football success, as highlighted by On3’s X post about interest in him in the retread market. The problem is that his career has also left behind a long list of uncomfortable moments. The first season of Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame tenure was overshadowed by the passing of Declan Sullivan.

Sullivan, a student working as a videographer for the football program, was on a hydraulic lift during an October 2010 practice when tragedy struck. Kelly had approved the outdoor session despite the weather conditions. Notre Dame later faced a $77,500 fine (which was later reduced) for safety violations. The tragedy became a defining part of Kelly’s debut season in South Bend.

That was not something a coach could fix with a better game plan the next Saturday. It became part of the way people judged his decision-making and responsibility. Then there was the 2012 and 2013 academic scandal.

Notre Dame later discovered that a student tutor had improperly helped football players with academic work. The NCAA ruled that players had received impermissible academic benefits, and Notre Dame ultimately had to vacate all of its wins from both seasons. That erased the official record of Kelly’s 12-0 regular season in 2012, including the run that took the Irish to the national championship game. Then came LSU.

Kelly’s first few months in Baton Rouge produced one of the strangest attempts at cultural assimilation in recent college football history. Shortly after taking the job, he appeared at an LSU basketball game and used a fake Southern accent while introducing himself. The clip exploded online and became an early joke at his expense.

It sounds harmless compared with the other issues. But it mattered because LSU never fully bought into Kelly’s personality. That became a bigger problem when the football started slipping. LSU writers and fans repeatedly questioned his roster decisions, his transfer-portal approach, and his ability to adjust as college football changed.

Former LSU players and people around the program questioned whether Kelly ever developed the kind of personal connection that coaches such as Ed Orgeron had with players and the surrounding community. These incidents might be the reason the college football world is reacting so harshly to the prospect of Brian Kelly’s coaching return.

“I hope no Power 5 school is dumb enough to take Brian Kelly,” wrote a user on X, reacting to ON3’s news.

Another warned of dire consequences that could follow the program hiring Kelly.

“Those hires should automatically be viewed as going backward by the fanbases of those schools. Unless they’re a G6. Period,” the user stated.

One user specifically commented on both Jimbo Fisher and Kelly’s coaching history and urged the program to avoid hiring them.

“If I was a school looking for a new coach, I would not be looking at those two,” another comment read.

Another user simply regretted the support they extended to Kelly.

“Supporting BK to lead LSU is probably the most embarrassing thing I’ve done in life, no exaggeration. My brudda even tried to tell me,” another comment read.

“You’re an unserious program if you hire Brian Kelly,” lastly, one person summarized the wider sentiment.