Brian Kelly adds son to staff at LSU amid assistant search
Brian Kelly will have family in the building at LSU. According to his son’s social media, Patrick Kelly is joining his father in Baton Rouge after spending time as a student assistant at Grand Valley State.
The former Notre Dame head coach is also bringing Fighting Irish director of football administration Beth Rex with him, according to FootballScoop.
Despite a few additions, Kelly has struck out on his former coordinators. Marcus Freeman now takes over the head job in South Bend while offensive coordinator Tommy Rees also opted to stay put.
Kelly addresses rumors on Raymond, Faulk
As Brian Kelly fills out his coaching staff at LSU, rumors are running rampant regarding who will join the newly-minted coach. In his introductory press conference, Kelly addressed reports that running backs coach Kevin Faulk and defensive backs coach Corey Raymond would remain with LSU.
“I have not made any decisions based upon who will stay and who may go,” stated Kelly. “I haven’t had any individual conversations with any of them. So any narrative out there is not coming from any conversations that I’ve had with them. They are well respected, and I will get the opportunity to vet out all of those coaches.
“They’ve done a great job. I know the business, they know the business. There are realities in this business. We’ll get to all those coaches, because as I mentioned earlier — they have families. They have lives. We have to get moving in that direction.”
LSU moving forward
Brian Kelly signed a 10-year contract worth $95 million, according to a press release announcing his hiring.
Kelly was the head coach for the Fighting Irish for 12 seasons, amassing a 92-39 record in that span. He turned them into a constant in the College Football Playoff conversation, making two playoff semifinals and appearing in the 2012 national championship. There has been nothing but consistency at Notre Dame with Kelly, winning at least 10 games over the past five years.
The news comes amidst an 11-1 season and with Notre Dame on the brink of a berth in the College Football Playoff. If the Fighting Irish do make the Playoff, Kelly will be the first head coach to be in the Playoff while also taking a new head coaching job.
With his arrival in the Bayou, Kelly takes over for a program that fired head coach Ed Orgeron less than two seasons after winning a national championship. Oregon was 51-20 overall with the Tigers, but just an even 11-11 over the past two seasons.
LSU finished the regular season 6-6 with a 3-5 record in the SEC.