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LSU’s Brian Kelly on decision to coach in SEC: ‘I want to beat Nick Saban’
LSU coach Brian Kelly talked about decision to leave South Bend and head south.
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Brian Kelly is always in search for a challenge.
The former Notre Dame coach found it in the SEC. Kelly, in his first year at LSU, takes over a program, he said, he didn’t even visit before accepting the head coaching position.
“I never visited,” Kelly said earlier this week on the Varsity House Podcast. “It was the alignment between the president, the athletic director and knowing that you were going to go into a program that had all those things in place. And you were going into a situation where you could compete with Alabama and Auburn and play those teams you wanted to go beat.
“So, I know those facilities were in place. It was the challenge. It was the ultimate challenge to come down here after being in the Midwest my entire career where most people said, “Well, you can’t do that. You can’t go down there and win in the SEC. You’re not from there.’
“So, it was probably the challenge to do it, and the alignment of an athletic director and president that were together in wanting to provide all the resources necessary to win a national championship.”
Kelly made it clear he wanted to face the toughest hurdle in college football: Alabama.
“I want to beat Nick Saban,” he said. “Who doesn’t want to beat Nick Saban? You know what I mean? I want to play him in the regular season. That’s the standard. Now, he’s a conference opponent.”
Last month, Kelly talked to Saban, who held the LSU job from 2000-2004, about the position before taking the job in Baton Rouge.
There is certainly a trend for success at LSU. The past three coaches at LSU have won national titles. Saban (2003), Les Miles (2007) and Ed Orgeron (2019) all hoisted trophies in the name of college football supremacy.
Kelly, 58, received a 10-year contract worth at least $95 million in November to be LSU’s coach. He was 113-40 in 12 seasons at Notre Dame, including 11-1 in 2021.
Kelly replaced Orgeron, who was fired amid a 6-6 season last year.