Brian Kelly’s regime at LSU was an odd one. For some reason, he simply couldn’t replicate his successes with previous programs at Baton Rouge. A four-year stint ended in a messy exodus. Recently, however, the former LSU head coach admitted that the job forced him to part from an intensely special dream.

“We just finished building our dream home,” Kelly said on SiriusXM’s Dusty and Danny in the Morning. “You can walk out our home and look at the Golden Dome. We tore down an apartment complex to build this beautiful home. We had no intentions of leaving Notre Dame…We had no idea that this was going to come upon us or we wouldn’t have done those things. They’re really difficult.”

Even though Brian Kelly and his wife, Paqui, poured a ton of heart into the building, the sports world was shocked when he took the LSU job in late 2021. Just like that, they went from living in their forever home in South Bend to moving down to a $1.2 million lakefront mansion in Baton Rouge almost overnight. Like his Notre Dame home, the mansion gave an amazing view of the Memorial Tower and the Tiger Stadium. The only reason the Kellys agreed to the massive change is that they believed Notre Dame was at a point that could sustain itself, thanks to the former coach’s efforts.

“Our deal coming in was that we need to get this program back to being an elite program. Everybody associates success with winning national championships or winning Super Bowls, or World Series. I get that. I totally get that. But that wasn’t our mindset. Our mindset was to get this program back and be a consistent force in college football. So in some instances, we felt like our job had been completed.”

Kelly also added that the one goal that he was yet to achieve at Notre Dame was winning a National Championship. He planned to do that in Baton Rouge, which had won it all just two years before he took charge. Sadly, not every pirate gets his hands on gold. After three years of going 10–4 (2022), 10–3 (2023), and 9–4 (2024), Brian Kelly bet on himself with the “all-in” slogan, treating it like a “championship or bust” year. This crucial season ended with the coach being dismissed, having gone 5-3 by that time. Despite all that, Brian Kelly doesn’t think his coaching journey is over.

Brian Kelly teases the return

“I don’t know that I’ve made the decision that I want to get back in, as all the things we’ve talked about,” Kelly said. “I’d want to see some changes. But I think while you wait, you need to work.” He basically said he needs to stay in the game and is keeping his options open for the next big opportunity.

To make sure he still got it, Kelly is actually going on a bit of a learning tour right now. He’s visiting different college campuses to watch spring practices and get a handle on how much the game has changed with things like NIL deals and the transfer portal.

There is a bit of a financial twist to this comeback, though. Because LSU owes him a massive $54 million buyout through 2031, his contract actually requires him to try and find a new job. This is called a “mitigation clause,” which is just a fancy way of saying he has to show he’s looking for work, so LSU doesn’t have to foot the entire bill itself. Whether he ends up at another major college program or finds a spot in the NFL, it’s clear he isn’t ready to head into retirement just yet.