Brian Kelly evaluates LSU program in Year 3, where morale stands amid disappointing 2024

Things have not exactly taken off in Year 3 for Brian Kelly at LSU. Certainly not to the level he, and especially the Tiger faithful, would have hoped.

But with what will go down as a bit of a disappointing season wrapping up in the next two weeks before a bowl, Kelly is still bullish that things are going in the right direction as a whole. And he’s saying that after hearing it from his players, he said.

“Based upon feedback that I’m getting from our leadership council here, we’re right on where we need to be in terms of building the foundation of our program,” Kelly said on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday. “We have to continue to recruit. Our players are playing hard, they’re playing with the right kind of attitude, but this is the SEC. And the talent is real. And so we have to continue to recruit. We’ve got a great class coming in. It’s a Top 5 class and that is going to contribute to the success moving forward. I don’t know that it’s much about me as much as it’s about us and how we continue to build our program consistently and then good recruiting. I think that’s a huge piece of this.”

After winning 10 games in each of his first two seasons, Kelly and the Tigers are going to win eight at most in 2024. His overall record sits at 26-11 as the end of his third season approaches.

And to Kelly’s point about recruiting, the Tigers 2025 class is currently ranked No. 4 according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

But the continued promise of progress in Year 4 and beyond doesn’t mean the 2024 season — one in which LSU sits at 6-4 with two games to play — isn’t disappointing.

“I think the team morale is disappointed. The coaches are disappointed. Every fan that follows LSU is disappointed and they should be,” Kelly said. “We don’t sign up for this for anything but positive outcomes. But they are committed. They are resolute in what they want to do and they want better football and excited to coach them because of the way that they have presented themselves to us. And that is: Keep coaching us, stick with the process, coach us hard, coach us fair and help us get better each and every week. And when you get that kind of captive audience, that’s what you want in coaching. So we’ve got that group here and we’re going to go back out swinging and battling again this Saturday against a really good Vanderbilt team.”