The Josh Innes Show - Brian Kelly FIRED!!

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

I'm truly in shock that LSU did it! My sports fandom was slowly dying. I was at a point that watching LSU get mauled by A&M didn't bother me. But, I've been saved. Let's get into it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, everybody, welcome in, all up in this podcast. What's Shakin? How are you? What's up? So, well, how was your weekend? My weekend, which was really terrible for most of it, really got great around 8 o'clock last night, as Brian Kelly got his ass whacked. See you later. Goodbye. So long. Farewell, Levita, Zand. Aju, friend. Goodbye. I was driving around yesterday. just playing songs from a Brian Kelly needs to be fired playlist. I guess we may have willed this into existence. We manifested this. I don't know, but it's a glorious day. And the LSU flag will be returning to the poll today when I get home in the lights and the beautiful sunshiny light sky in Michigan, in Hazel Park, Michigan. My flag will be, will go back into the air and we will celebrate that Brian Kelly is gone.

ding-dong, the witch is dead, and he's taking all the rest of his other dip shits with him, and it's a lovely, lovely, lovely day. I want to dig into this pretty deep because this is awesome. We got a lot of stuff to get into, though. We will start with that. Let's play a few commercials, and we will continue. Now streaming on Paramount Plus is the epic return of mayor of Kingston. Warden? You know who I am.

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Conditions and exclusions apply. Well, let's start here. Brian Kelly was never a super likable guy, and he's never been a likable guy anywhere. They didn't really like him at Notre Dame. They didn't like him at Cincinnati. And LSU people never really liked him there. But let's start with that angle on it, right? And I want to actually read this Ross Dellinger story that's gone in depth on how this whole thing came to be.

And that might be a separate episode. But I want to start with this when I talk about Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly is one of those dudes who you tolerated and acted as if you liked him more because he was your coach and you wanted him to be good. And you hated all the Notre Dame people telling you that he's a loser and that he sucks and all that. So you accepted that you don't really like him, but you're going to put up a front and you're going to find ways to defend him because he's your guy. And he represents your school and you want to win. It's like this. There's a scene at the end of Wedding Crashers where it's the scene at the wedding, I believe, is where it was where the red-haired chick's about to marry Vince Vaughn, right?

Ila Fisher's about to marry Vince Vaughn. And eventually Owen shows up. Owen Wilson shows up and actually that's not Owen Wilson that's the other Wilson right no it is it's Owen Wilson so where am I at my brain is all over the place here but there's the scene Owen Wilson shows up and you've got what's this how where a point is there's a line in there where freaking Christopher Walkin is like you know I put up with all your stories he's talking to what's his name how I know nobody's names today my brain is fried and I don't know why but you have, oh, what's his name from Silver Linings Playbook, that dude. How am I drawing a blank on

everybody's name today? But he's like, listen, I put up with all your stories because she seemed to like you, but whatever. Like, that's kind of how I think a lot of us at LSU felt with Brian Kelly. Like, we put up with Brian Kelly having the fake accent and we put up with Brian Kelly seeming to be a pud. And I defended him when he kind of shit on the media guy earlier this year because he's the coach of LSU and you want him to be good. And you're kind of hoping and wishing and praying that this guy would be good. So you look past a lot of shit because you want him to be good and you want your team to be good.

So you accept that, hey, you don't like him, but you got to find a way to get through it. Like you accept it. You're staying together for the kids, that type of deal. But what ends up happening is the second this guy gets fired, there's like this release of happiness and joy and you can start telling people the truth about how you felt about the guy. Here's what happened. Here's what LSU did.

Their AD Scott Woodward is a big game hunter. Let us not forget that Scott Woodward, you have to start questioning this guy. Because Scott Woodward is the guy who hired Jimbo Fisher or gave the big deal to Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M. Jimbo Fisher has the largest buyout in the history of college athletics. And I don't know that anybody will ever top $70-something million in a buyout. So that's number one. Now he hires the coach at LSU. His hire, after they whack Coach O, his hire is Brian Kelly, big game hunting, coach at Notre Dame,

and you give him this deal, and now he's going to have a $50 million buyout. He's going to have the second biggest buyout in the history of college athletics. So that means one gentleman is responsible for like $120 million in buyouts in his last two football hires, the most important position that anyone's going to hire at an athletic department outside of like Duke or North Carolina or Kansas, the most important person you're going to hire on your campus is going to be the football coach. You have one job. Don't fuck up football. And what does Scott Woodward done at the last two places he's been?

He fucked up football at Texas A&M and he fucked up football at LSU. And he's responsible for these rich-ass uncle money bags donors having to pay $120 million in combined buyouts by making two dreadful, dreadful hires at two places. And at least Jimbo Fisher in a way kind of fit Texas A&M, kind of had like a good old boy kind of vibe about him, kind of a good old boy sound about him. Brian Kelly never made sense at LSU. Brian Kelly was a straight up big game hunter move. And I know what you're saying. Like one of the things that people talk about is culture. And people have talked about how LSU is a unique culture.

Every school has its own unique culture. But Louisiana is arguably one of the most, maybe the most unique state in America. It's its own universe. Like, you know, there's your Missouri's and your Arkansas's and your Florida's, and they all have different qualities about them. But Louisiana is a different universe. And you don't have to be from Louisiana to coach at LSU because the guys who are successful at LSU and have won championships

haven't been from Louisiana. Nick Saban is the furthest thing from a dude that's from Louisiana. Les Miles is the furthest thing from a dude at Louisiana. Coach O, of course, is from Louisiana, and he was fun. But if you look at Sabin and Miles, those were two guys that embraced what makes Louisiana great and what makes Louisiana football great and what LSU is. And I actually heard somebody say something. I think it was Josh Pate, who has a very good college football podcast.

I really enjoyed Josh. And Josh said something that I found interesting is there was something about Brian Kelly that made it seem like he never actually appreciated being the coach at LSU, which is arguably it's not even argumentally, it is a top five college football job. And you can debate is the best college football job in America. There are some very good ones, and you want to get into a debate we can. LSU is one of the elite jobs, one of the three or four, five elite jobs, and you can make an argument is the best job in America. And this is a guy that never fully seemed to enjoy it.

And I never really connected this. And I was listening this morning on the way into work, and I was listening to Josh Paid on his show. And the stuff he said really resonated with me. I'm like, you know what? You're absolutely right. Usually when people take the LSU job, it's, you know, like, look, Sabin was coaching at Michigan State. He got into the SEC by coaching at LSU. Les Miles was coaching in Oklahoma State. Big 12 guy comes over there. Coach O's a different universe because he kind of inherited the job, then got the full-time job, all that.

But the guys that make the transition to LSU, you know you kind of have to play the game. And part of that is you have to embrace the culture. You kind of have to embrace what makes it great. You can't go into it thinking you're better than the job and making it obvious that you think you are better than the job. And I think what you got out of Brian Kelly a lot is Brian Kelly didn't take the LSU job because he wanted the LSU job. He didn't take the LSU job because he felt passionate about Louisiana

or passionate about LSU. Brian Kelly took the job because Brian Kelly just wanted to win a championship and LSU gave him the best opportunity. And really, if you go back and really listen to what he had to say when he took the job, it's really like he didn't lie about it. When he took the job, he was like, look, I got an opportunity to go win championships down at LSU. Basically, he took the job because this job afforded him the resources or gave him the resources that he could not get at Notre Dame to win the championship.

So he came here, title hunting. He came to Louisiana title hunting. That was his whole idea, was to come down here and, and, and, you know, just kind of use this area to get a championship. And look, I don't blame him. Guy got $11 million a year, whatever it was. He's the coach at LSU. He's got all the resources in the world.

And it didn't work out for him. He still sucked. He was still the same guy, but with more resources. It kind of just revealed what he was. And the fan base never fully warmed up to the guy. Like, deep down, we'd all sit there and fight with these Notre Dame people. And deep down, we'd fight with them on social media and say that they're losers and they're mad, that their coach abandoned them to go to LHU.

and we'd throw the double birds at them. But big picture, like, they were right. Those people at Notre Dame were right. Now, would they have gladly kept Brian Kelly for these five years he's been at LSU? Probably. Like, it's easy to say you hate a guy once he's left your school. But they weren't wrong about what he was. And what he is is just not a likable guy.

He's not a personable guy. He doesn't relate to the fan base. Nick Saban is not a personable guy. Now he is because you see him on TV and he's jolly and funny and he's doing dumb shit with Pat McAfee and it's fun. Like he was always a prickly person, whether he was at LSU or he was at Alabama. But he got it. You know what I'm saying? Like you never felt like Nick Saban didn't get it.

And I think what you deal with with Brian Kelly is he just never felt like a guy that he felt like a guy who took the job for what the job can do for him and not what he could do for the job. Does that make sense? Am I making any sense in what I'm saying? Like James Franklin, I guarantee you James Franklin was gutted when he lost the Penn State job. Gutted. But it was an obvious thing. You've got a guy, James Franklin, he's a guy that's got history. He's got a guy that's history there.

He knows the area. He's from the area. Arguably a dream job. He's a guy from Pennsylvania. Like, that's his life. Like, he is Pennsylvania. Like, this was a dream gig. Some guys say a job is a dream gig.

And then they just say that because that's the job they have. And that's the job they just took. So it's a dream gig, quote unquote, dream gig. Like a guy like James Franklin had a dream gig at Penn State. So losing that gig, crush that dude. Like, I think about Brian Kelly losing this job at LSU. And like, I just don't believe that there's anything sincere enough about him for me to believe that this crushed him to lose this job. Like, when you saw James Franklin on TV on Game Day the week after he was,

was fired. You're watching that guy and you're like, listen, he's trying to get a job and he wants to give him the double birds and go win a championship somewhere else, and I totally get it. But that dude was crushed to lose that job. And look, I guarantee you, you know, Coach O was crushed to lose the LSU gig. Now, he makes the jokes about it and says, hey, we're giving you 17 million reasons to get lost. And he's like, where do I sign and where's the door? Like, Coach O's a funny guy. I guarantee you that a Louisiana dude who had the head coaching job at Ole Miss was the interim coach at USC who's had all these opportunities. I guarantee you that Coach O losing that job was crushing.

The money's nice, but it was crushing. But then you look over at Brian Kelly, and Brian Kelly loses one of the top five jobs in college football. And I don't believe that Brian Kelly, and I don't know this, but I don't believe that Brian Kelly is crushed that he lost the LSU job. I think he's crushed that he's crushed that he climbed the ladder and went to Cincinnati to here and now he's been fired and getting fired. sucks no matter who you are or what level you're at in any line of work getting fired does suck

to a degree. Some hurt worse than others. But I don't believe that when I see Brian Kelly get fired, that Brian Kelly even gives a shit that he got fired from LSU. He's upset that he got fired from a job, but I don't believe he's upset that he got fired from LSU. Whereas a James Franklin, you look at him and go, that guy's crushed because he got fired from that job. And to rip myself here, like that's kind of how it was at WIP. WIP is an L. LSU level radio job for sports radio people. And the entire time I was there, I never felt appreciative that I had the gig. It was always just like, hey, I'm here, I have the gig.

I took the gig for what the gig means for me, but I never full on appreciated that gig. And I tell you this all the time, that is one of my great regrets. Like the St. Louis one, I just regret going there to begin with because it was a bad fit and it was a mistake. WIP wasn't a bad fit. WIP was a great fit, and the numbers showed that. the boss I worked for. Everything was a great fit for me there. There was a lot of drama, but it was a great fit. Like my personality fit and if I would have embraced it a little bit more. But I Brian Kelly'd that gig. I'm Brian Kelly did and I had some success. Brian Kelly had some success. But at the end of it, like when it was ready to be over, people were ready for you to be fucking gone. People celebrated when my ass got run out. And they have celebrated that Brian Kelly's ass out ran out. And that's kind of that, like that's, again, I try to find ways to relate things to me or other real life things. But that's, but that's, what that felt like. When I watched the way things ended for Brian Kelly at

LSU, it felt like the way things ended for me at WIP. And it felt like I should have viewed that as a dream job. But like anytime anybody would ask me what your dream job is, I'd be like, I don't fucking know, I don't really have a dream job. But if you're a sports radio guy and you have an

option to work, or you have a chance to work at one of the top two or three sports stations in the country, in arguably the most passionate sports city in the country, and you get paid well to do it. Maybe you figure out how to appreciate it a little bit more and not worry about what the next thing is. I could never do that when I was there. It was just not in my mindset. I just couldn't do it. And that's how I view Brian Kelly at LSU. Brian Kelly didn't

love LSU, just like I didn't love WIP. When I got fired at WIP, it was like, oh, it's just another gig. I think Brian Kelly looks at LSU. Getting fired at LSU is just another gig. Anytime I've ever watched Brian Kelly, I never felt like this is a guy that loves LIP. LSU and is passionate about LSU and would be hurt if he lost the gig. Now, I don't expect a guy that's not from there to be the same level of passionate as I would be or my buddies would be about it. I get that or coach O or something like that. But I would expect you to carry yourself as someone who feels lucky and fortunate to be

part of the university. And that's never the vibe I got from him. And I think a lot of people saw right through his bullshit. Louisiana people, like, I'll say this. I think that Philadelphia people can be very easily kind of hoodwinked or led to believe that someone feels a way. Like, they can be faked, right? Like, you can Bryce Harper it and put on some Philly fanatic cleats and name your daughter, Liberty Bell. And they'll be like, oh, I fucking love this guy he gets us.

Philly people for whatever reason, for, you know, as like hip to the jive they are, they very easily fall for a lot of shit. I never experienced that at LSU. When I lived in Louisiana, that's a unique culture that you will not find anywhere else. It is a special culture for people. And they are not easily bullshit. Bullshitted? Bullshat. They're not.

They won't fall for your bullshit. You have to go in there and you have to show them. But you also have to really be authentic in it and appreciate the area. Whereas I think in Philadelphia you can go in and say, hey, I love Rocky and Hogi's and Wawa and Go Birds. And they'll be like, this fucking guy is amazing. and he's one of us. That's not the case in Louisiana. It never has been. In my experience in Louisiana, it never felt that way. You really had to seem like you wanted to be part of that culture and embrace that culture. And obviously, winning helps. If Brian Kelly would have won 12 games and two championships in his first year, you know, had multiple undefeated season and two championships, it wouldn't matter. His personality would not matter. So that is true. But what you can't be is someone who is unsuccessful and someone who's kind of prickly and no. nobody feels they can warm up to. Like, look at Les Miles.

Dude's a doofus, but he was kind of our doofus. Like, we kind of embraced that he was our doofus. Look at Coach O. He was one of us. Look at Nick Saban. He got it. He embraced it. There's no reason why a guy from Pennsylvania, he's from West Virginia, that Nick Saban

should be as successful and as beloved as he is in Alabama and Louisiana, but he is because he got it. And I don't believe that Brian Kelly ever got. it and I don't think he ever will. And I don't think, and again, I'm not there so I don't know, but I don't believe Brian Kelly got fired from that job and is crushed. I don't believe Brian Kelly is sitting there today sad over this. I believe that Brian Kelly lost that gig, and in his eyes, it's another gig. And I feel like I can relate to that because that's the mistake I've made in a lot of places. I've never let myself fully embrace a lot of these places. And when I lose

the job, it just makes it easier to lose the job and go, well, I guess I just lost a gig. But I should Like WIP could or should have been my LSU for Brian Kelly, but I didn't embrace it the right way and I ended up the same way he did. So there you go.