Brian Kelly: 'I don't deal in expectations'

As Brian Kelly enters his third season in Baton Rouge, another national title becomes even more the focus at LSU. Still, Kelly isn’t worried about the past hopes or the future results as he is the Tigers’ present efforts.

Kelly discussed expectations relative to where he thinks the program actually is during his press conference at the podium from SEC Media Days in Dallas on Monday. For him, the pre- and in-season presumptions don’t interest him as much as what his team is doing daily to meet and exceed those goals.

“The easiest way for me to answer the question is that I don’t deal in expectations. I deal within a process of how we do things on a day-to-day basis,” said Kelly. “I know that’s not the answer you want.”

“We don’t deal on a day-to-day basis with those expectations as much as are we doing the things necessary that allows us to stick with our process? Because we’re not about the results as much as are we making progress towards our ultimate goals?”

The three previous coaches at LSU have not helped Kelly in this context. Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron each won a national championship apiece in the past three tenures since the turn of the century. Now, that same anticipation falls on Kelly.

Even so, Kelly can’t do anything about any of that on the outside. All he can work at is what the Tigers are doing to reach that level, which he thinks they have a decent chance of doing with where the team’s trajectory is and how that has usually gone in his career.

“This is the most accountable that group has been. There is trust within the group. This will be the deepest team that we’ve had,” Kelly noted. “I don’t know what that’s going to be relative to the expectations. All I can do is continue to work towards what our process is. Then whatever the outcomes are going to be evaluated externally. I don’t control those. I control what our process is and how we go to work every day.”

“In year three, I’ve had really good success with getting our football team to be the most accountable, the most trusting team that I’ve had here at LSU,” said Kelly. “That’s usually been pretty good at my other stops.”

Winning another championship, especially under a coach with a resumé like Kelly, is all that matters at LSU. However, in order to do that, he understands what it’s going to take in order to accomplish that for those in Death Valley.

“Our mission is certainly to win championships. I get how we get to that conclusion,” Kelly said.