Brian Kelly 'not afraid' to make tough staff decisions at LSU

LSU featured the nation’s No. 1 offense this fall, captained by perhaps the leader in the Heisman Trophy race in quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Yet the Tigers lost three games and finished at 9-3, unable to repeat as SEC West champions. Why? Well, the defense was abysmal, for one.

While the Tigers ranked first in scoring and total offense, they ranked just 77th in scoring defense and 101st in total defense. Opponents often were able to turn around and answer whatever score Daniels had just put on the board.

Naturally, there are questions now about whether coach Brian Kelly will make a defensive coordinator change.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever, look, here’s what I can tell ya,” Kelly said. “I was three games into a season in 2016 at Notre Dame, I had to fire my defensive coordinator, and he was in my wedding. Those aren’t easy decisions, OK? I’m not afraid to make those decisions, and I’m going to do what’s best for LSU’s football program and the pursuit of a national championship.”

LSU’s current coordinator is Matt House, who has been with the Tigers since Kelly took over in 2022. He doesn’t have much cross-over coaching history with Kelly at all.

But Kelly pointed out that there’s more to it than just the coordinator. Injuries, for example, played a huge part in LSU’s secondary. The Tigers were down a half dozen guys at various points, having to play very inexperienced players there.

That won’t necessarily change with a coordinator change.

So Kelly wants to make sure he evaluates all angles of a potential move before kicking anyone to the curb.

“I’m going to do it informed. I’m going to do it what’s best for the program, because it’s involving players, it’s involving coaches, it’s involving all things as it relates to being more successful as a defense,” Kelly said. “It’s not on one person. It’s collectively. If it was that easy we would have been in a different place. Like I said, I went three games into a season and made a change in the leadership. If it was that easy, those decisions are a lot easier.”

LSU’s run defense finished ranked 89th nationally, giving up 163.8 yards per game. The passing defense, meanwhile, finished 104th, surrendering 245.4 yards per game.

Bottom line: That will have to improve whether Kelly opts to make a defensive coordinator change or not.