5-4-3-2-1 …
Yeah, but what about the cultural fit?
This is Louisiana, after all, sometimes a different, occasionally third-world, country.
For sure, it didn’t take long for that question to pop up, even if it was the only mild objection from the peanut gallery.
LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward landed his latest whale of a hire, the football one that really matters, and it was a whopper.
Brian Kelly was not a name you saw on a bunch of the LSU wish lists over the last two months, probably because, well … who’d a thunk it. Wouldn’t he be untouchable?
Just consider that Notre Dame — love the Irish or hate ‘em, there’s no denying it’s the most storied program in college football — had never had a coach leave the Golden Dome of his own accord for another school.
It’s just not done.
Certainly not by the winningest coach in school history, just this year edging a fellow named Knute Rocke.
That is, until Scott “The Closer” Woodward apparently took about 15 minutes or so to lure Kelly south to LSU to replace Ed Orgeron.
A week from now Kelly could find the team he left behind picked to play in the College Football Playoff without him.
And never mind how big of a catch it is.
That’s awfully quick work, there, especially since LSU thought as late as Saturday that it was going to be dealing with Lincoln Riley before he left the Tigers at the altar to bolt from Oklahoma to Southern Cal.
Woodward’s first choice, no doubt, was Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, the coach Orgeron just beat for the second time in four years.
That wasn’t happening, so LSU paid Jimbo-style jumbo money for Kelly, almost down the last cent — $95 million for 10 years, at which time Kelly will be 70, which is Nick Saban’s age.
They even got details like a $1 million housing allowance worked out and raises for whomever from the Irish staff he wants to bring along. Sounds like they just pulled up a Brinks truck and went down a list asking him what he wanted.
NoproblemNo problemNoproblem … deal done. Warm up the jet.
LSU once hired the greatest coach in history, but even Saban didn’t have Kelly’s credentials coming in.
I doubt Woodward ever brought up what kind of “cultural fit” Kelly would be living in this strange state and playing in the cut-throat Southeastern “It Just Means More” Conference.
But in landing Kelly, Woodward is certainly making a 180-degree turn from the status quo. And, for sure, you’ll miss some of the stuff that made Coach O so much fun when things were things going well. But those same “true Cajun, one of us” qualities made it harder and more awkward to watch when it started unraveling.
Kelly ain’t that, and he probably can’t spell ain’t, let alone all the “eaux” selections in the state vocabulary.
I doubt he’ll even try to fake it.
With Kelly, Geaux Tigers may come out Go-ux Tigers for a while.
Kelly will need a proper introduction to a crawfish, let alone even entertaining thoughts of how to suck the head on one.
There are rumors floating ‘bout that he’s expressed mild distaste for spicy food.
Who wants to explain boudin to a guy born and raised and raised in Massachusetts who made his coaching bones in the heart of the Midwest before taking over the tweed-coat national brand of Notre Dame?
Let him be bland.
Coach O was the most media-friendly coach we could ever hope for, right up there with Skip Bertman.
By all accounts, it’s a part of the job that Kelly tolerates at best.
Same with recruiting, which Orgeron relished 24/7.
Kelly, not so much, though he certainly understands its importance — and the local available talent and more realistic admission standards at LSU no doubt played a role in the move. Maybe he figured the talent ceiling at Notre Dame was just good enough to get your butt beat in the CFP semifinals (twice).
He no doubt saw 2019 and knows that it’s possible at LSU to fill in the one missing check on his coaching bucket list.
Remember all that fiery emotion of Coach O Gone Wild on the sidelines, the chest-bumping in victorious locker rooms?
Kelly seems to be more of a studious, CEO-type leader, running a program from top to bottom, with a particular reputation for hiring excellent coaches.
That was the part of the Orgeron business model that went astray.
In the end it won’t matter that Kelly wasn’t born on the bayou and wouldn’t know a pirogue from an ice pop.
Saban forever changed LSU football despite being reared in West Virginia and coming directly from Michigan State. Les Miles’ quirkiness did fine for a while despite his Ohio-Michigan roots.
Moral of the story: Just win and you’ll fit in just fine in this state.
—
Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com
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December 01, 2021 at 11:02PM
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