Brian Kelly
Followed Ed Orgeron. Brian Kelly inherited a Blue Blood LSU and won with it.
In his own words
I just wasn’t prepared to do it until we got a full commitment from another Heisman Trophy winner
Well, I think I was mischaracterized, only in the sense that I didn’t leave Notre Dame because they couldn’t win a national championship
College football is not in a bad place
More than 40, I’ll tell you that
I don’t know that I’ve made the decision that I want to get back in, as all the things we’ve talked about, I’d want to see some changes. But I think while you wait, you need to work
And so, I need to stay in the game. My first order of business is this next two, three weeks, I’m gonna be visiting some places to see spring ball, get a chance to see some things relative to the football side, the operational side, some of the things we talked about today with NIL, transfer and calendar, and get a temperature in the spring for some things.
And so, that’s really my focus right now
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Blue Blood in his 20th career season — faster than 3% of the 100 FBS coaches who have ever reached Blue Blood (rank #97 of 100 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
27–22 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Jimbo Fisher.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
4th-best LSU tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Ed Orgeron (2016–2021).
| Season | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 10–4 | 10–3 | 9–4 | 2–3 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | |
| Recruiting rank | #12 | #6 | #7 | #10 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||
| Pass rate | 48.1 | 48.9 | 59.0 | 54.4 | |
| Coordinators | |||||
| OC | Mike Denbrock | Mike Denbrock | Joe Sloan / Cortez Hankton | Joe Sloan / Cortez Hankton | |
| DC | Matt House | Matt House | Blake Baker | Blake Baker | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||
| Offense | 92 | 99 | 80 | 22 | |
| Defense | 86 | 6 | 47 | 75 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||
| 1st-down pass% | 45.8 | 48.5 | 56.1 | 48.7 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 35.6 | 31.7 | 54.5 | 41.2 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 39.0 | 38.5 | 40.9 | 22.0 | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
36 NFL Draft picks: Derek Stingley Jr. (2022), Ed Ingram (2022), Cordale Flott (2022), Tyrion Davis-Price (2022), Cade York (2022), Neil Farrell Jr. (2022), Damone Clark (2022), Austin Deculus (2022) + 28 more
4 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Jayden Daniels (2023), Malik Nabers (2023), Will Campbell (2024), Mansoor Delane (2025)
12th-best Notre Dame tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Charlie Weis (2005–2009).
| Season | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||
| Record | 8–5 | 8–5 | 12–1 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 10–3 | 4–8 | 10–3 | 12–1 | 11–2 | 10–2 | 11–1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | W bowl | L bowl | — | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | L bowl | L bowl | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | #11 | #13 | #15 | #10 | #10 | #16 | #17 | #9 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | 48.9 | 44.6 | 47.0 | 38.5 | 44.0 | 46.8 | 41.7 | 49.9 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | Mike Denbrock | Mike Sanford | Mike Sanford | Chip Long | Chip Long | Chip Long | Tommy Rees | Tommy Rees | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | Brian VanGorder | Brian VanGorder | Brian VanGorder | Mike Elko | Clark Lea | Clark Lea | Clark Lea | Marcus Freeman | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | 71 | 87 | 53 | 84 | 65 | 79 | 79 | 74 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | 11 | 42 | 64 | 74 | 86 | 97 | 75 | 95 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | 46.0 | 42.9 | 45.8 | 40.8 | 40.9 | 46.6 | 40.1 | 48.9 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | 42.5 | 40.9 | 46.2 | 36.7 | 50.0 | 47.5 | 39.2 | 35.0 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | 28.6 | 15.2 | 40.0 | 25.6 | 43.4 | 41.9 | 29.0 | 29.3 | |
Barely touches the portal — recruits and develops his own.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
60 NFL Draft picks: Jimmy Clausen (2010), Golden Tate (2010), Sam Young (2010), Eric Olsen (2010), Kyle Rudolph (2011), Michael Floyd (2012), Harrison Smith (2012), Robert Blanton (2012) + 52 more
5 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Kyle Hamilton (2020), Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (2020), Aaron Banks (2020), Liam Eichenberg (2020), Kyle Hamilton (2021)
6th-best Cincinnati tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Succeeded by Butch Jones (2010–2012).
13 NFL Draft picks: John Bowie (2007), Brent Celek (2007), Haruki Nakamura (2008), Angelo Craig (2008), Connor Barwin (2009), Kevin Huber (2009), DeAngelo Smith (2009), Brandon Underwood (2009) + 5 more
8th-best Central Michigan tenure of 10 by the numbers.
Followed Mike DeBord (2000–2003) · succeeded by Butch Jones (2007–2009).
5 NFL Draft picks: Eric Ghiaciuc (2005), Adam Kieft (2005), Joe Staley (2007), Dan Bazuin (2007), Drew Mormino (2007)