Sunday was expected to be bad for the LSU football staff. To save himself, Bian Kelly was expected to fire some assistant coaches. Suddenly, with the next LSU game against Alabama Football, LSU fired Kelly.
LSU will pay a heavy price. Kelly's buyout has been reported at $53.5M. Add another $15-20M to buy out his assistants. Despite the cost, when tens of thousands of LSU fans began streaming out of Tiger Stadium during a Saturday night game, LSU had little choice. Kelly had lost the fanbase, and losing the team would have quickly followed. It did help Kelly's situation that he screamed, firing threats at assistants during the loss to Texas A&M. It also didn't help that the Aggies, under strength coach Tommy Moffitt, who Kelly fired from an earlier LSU staff, clearly had the most physically dominating team on Saturday night.
Kelly Exit and Impact on Alabama Football
How Kelly's exit will impact LSU's trip to Bryant-Denny in Week 11 is not known. Maybe the players will rally around each other. But LSU was not going to beat Alabama with Brian Kelly, and at best, their chances can only be slightly better without him.
Kelly's firing is not a blow to the Alabama Football program. Rather, the LSU opening is a major blow to the Auburn program. If or when Auburn fires Hugh Freeze, their opening will be diminished, with LSU and Florida being more attractive options for a top coach. Braulio Perez, writing for Death Valley Voice, stated the top targets for LSU will be Lane Kiffin, former LSU Offensive Coordinator and now Buffalo Bills OC, Joe Brady, and Tulane's Jon Sumrall.
As reported by the LSU student publication, Reveille, other potential candidates for LSU are Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, Georgia Tech's Brent Key, Louisville's Jeff Brohm, and Vanderbilt's Clark Lea. Auburn football insiders, perceptive enough to know the Tigers cannot land Lane Kiffin, have often mentioned Sumrall, Key, and Brohm as good choices for Auburn.
Brian Kelly's career record against Alabama Football is 1-4. His overall LSU record was 34-14, with too many losses against ranked teams. Counter to his offseason prediction, Kelly will not be seeing anyone in the next National Championship Game.