Paul Finebaum shares honest assessment of where Brian Kelly stands during third year at LSU

Paul Finebaum was pretty honest about where Brian Kelly stood following LSU’s latest loss, this time to Florida.

Kelly is 6-4 in this third season at the helm, following back-to-back seasons for 10 wins. But it seems like the program is going backwards.

Kelly’s been a good coach at Notre Dame and LSU, but not relative to the current expectations, especially after coaching a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback in 2023.

“Well, he simply walked into a hornets nest right now because the season is literally on the brink,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “It looks like a train wreck from a distance. We’re not there, but everyone now is just going to start piling on him from his own fan base, which is the worst to fan bases around the country, to especially Notre Dame fans, who I think are probably taking great pleasure in his failings. And there’s really no way to sugar coat a three year experience that has not gone particularly well. 

“And I’m aware like you are what he did the first year, but there’s almost nothing for Brian Kelly to say now, other than to try to salvage what looks like a fantastic recruiting class and turn this thing around quickly, because no one is going to be very forgiving for a guy who’s making $10 million a year, who has the highest paid assistant coaching staff in the country, who has four losses, but quite frankly, probably should have six.”

Paul Finebaum honest about where Brian Kelly stands

Finebaum was asked if Kelly should get some leeway for this season since LSU had to retool following the two-year Jayden Daniels era.

“No, Greg, I don’t and I understand what you’re saying, and I think it’s, you know, I hear him every week,” Finebaum said. “Fans are not forgiving, especially in today’s environment where everybody is having to recalibrate, literally every single year. This isn’t a four or five year project anymore. He’s not a sympathetic figure … You guys both know him. I mean, I like him a lot. I deal with him very often. He makes it hard on himself. 

“I don’t know what happened on the sidelines the other day, other than what I’ve seen, but those type of things metastasize, and I am particularly interested in what he has to say today, because he’s a smart coach. He’s one of the smartest coaches I’ve dealt with. He knows what people are saying, not that he’s obsessing over it because you can’t afford to not with a schedule like everybody has. But what you laid out there, Greg is probably realistic in principle, but fans simply do not want to hear it.”