Greg McElroy has a lot of respect for the job Brian Kelly has done with the LSU Tigers over his first two seasons in the SEC.
During his Always College Football show, McElroy decided to take a look back at some of the coaching hires prior to the 2022 college football season. Kelly was the one that shook the sport up, and McElroy believes he’s on his way to bringing a national title to the Tigers.
“It’s kind of unprecedented that we saw a coach leave Notre Dame, and in particular, Brian Kelly. A guy from Massachusetts, from the Northeast, that has spent all of his time, all of his coaching career, north of the Mason-Dixon-Line and yet, he decides to take LSU,” McElroy explained. “A place that has won national championships with Nick Saban, who is a phenomenal coach. As you guys know, I think he’s the greatest of all time. Ed Orgeron and Les Miles. Good coaches. Love them. I respect them. But I think Brian Kelly is probably a little better coach, frankly, than both Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. The problem is, he hasn’t quite gotten that done yet. So far, his record is 20-7. He’s 12-4 (in the SEC), he has been to an SEC Championship, which is, I think a pretty significant achievement, given that this Year 1. He does have a Heisman Trophy winner, and LSU does have four national championships in their history. I referenced it. … So, this is a place where you can do it. I think that’s part of the reason why Brian Kelly took the job.
“He recognized that his pathway to a title, that’s the one box left unchecked right now from Brian Kelly in his illustrious coaching career. The one box left unchecked is that national championship, and I think he recognized that while he could get Notre Dame to the Playoff, he was having a difficult time getting them over the hump. When playing against the teams from the SEC. Some of the teams that they would see in the Big Ten. He had a difficult time with his roster, the way it was constructed, competing against the best in college football, and what we’ve seen already, at least in the first couple of years, he’s been able to do that. He just hasn’t done it quite consistently enough.”
If Kelly is able to bring LSU a national title, McElroy believes it’ll elevate him above many of his peers at LSU, and cement his legacy in college football as a whole.
“Last year, the defense, just completely falling apart. But when we go through this exercise, a lot of this is going to be about the place, more so than the coach. … Frankly, if Brian Kelly wins a national championship at LSU, I think he will immediately become the second best coach in LSU history,” McElroy added. “Now, maybe there’s some that would maybe push back on that. Guys that coached back 50, 60 years ago, perhaps. But I think Nick Saban, given his run of success, was among the best, if not the best. I think Les Miles is a solid coach, I don’t think he’s elite. Ed Orgeron, solid coach. I don’t think he’s elite.
“I think Brian Kelly is elite. That’s why I think the percentage chance that he will win a national championship at LSU is 50%.”
Time will tell, but it’s easy to see why Greg McElroy has such a strong belief in Brian Kelly. We’ll see if the LSU leader can get the job done as early as this coming season with the Tigers.
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