Brian Kelly’s comedy act won’t cut it at LSU

Brian Kelly is having a rough few days.

After losing to Florida State 24-23 on Sunday night in excruciating fashion, Kelly showed up to Tuesday’s press conference hoping to clear the air and keep the mood light. A few reporters showed up late, and Kelly poked at them in his opening statement. Kelly noted that if any of his players were late then they would pay $10 into the kitty jar as a late tax. What Kelly probably expected were a few laughs, maybe a chuckle. What he didn’t expect was this:

Salute to The Advocate’s LSU football and baseball beat writer, hero and scholar (and Medill alum) Leah Vann for the retort. Vann said that she apologized afterwards and that Kelly was fine after, but I think there’s a larger issue at play here with Kelly.

Brian Kelly is trying to be the funny, personable charisma guy at head coach for LSU and it’s simply just not working. From trying to sound Southern but sounding like Foghorn Leghorn at an LSU basketball game (with a fake accent by the way) to the hilariously awkward dance moves he did with an LSU recruit, it seems like Kelly is trying to make himself likable to not only LSU fans but LSU boosters. The problem with that is the last coach LSU hired (and promptly fired) was the comedy and charisma guy and he got ousted after a poor season last year.

Kelly has never been the funny charisma coach, even if he’s tried it before. Last year Kelly tried to make a quip about late game execution after the Irish beat (how ironic) Florida State. “Maybe the entire team should be executed,” Kelly said. Obviously the joke fell flat, and he had to explain that he was invoking coaching great John McKay. Kelly is just not a funny person.

If Kelly wants to endear himself to LSU fans and boosters, he can do the thing he did at Notre Dame: win football games. It’s the largest reason why Scott Woodward is paying him $100 million over 10 years. Not because Kelly was a “culture” hire, but because in his time at Notre Dame he only had one season below .500. In a way, Vann was right. If Kelly wins games, then people will show respect.