LSU Coach Brian Kelly Isn’t Getting Any Love from a Large Contingent of the Tiger Fanbase: A 2024 Reality Check
College football isn’t just a game in Louisiana – it’s a way of life. Baton Rouge is a city where the air smells like crawfish, the nights hum with the sound of the band’s fight song, and the LSU Tigers reign supreme in the hearts of their fans. But under the surface of all the purple and gold pride, there’s been a growing tension surrounding one key figure: Head Coach Brian Kelly.
When Kelly was hired in 2022, he arrived with all the credentials: a seasoned, high-caliber coach with decades of experience at Notre Dame, a track record of success, and a reputation for discipline. But there was one problem. He wasn’t “Louisiana.” And that’s something LSU fans, for better or worse, tend to take very personally. Kelly has been facing an uphill battle ever since, with a significant portion of the fanbase holding their breath to see if he’ll ever truly feel like “one of us.” After a few years at the helm, it’s clear that while Brian Kelly has his supporters, there’s still a sizable chunk of the LSU faithful that’s far from sold on him. In fact, some are downright skeptical.
As LSU enters the 2024 season, it’s clear that Kelly’s challenges are far from over. With a team stacked with talent, a championship-caliber roster, and the eyes of the nation on them, Kelly finds himself in a high-stakes situation. But as the pressure mounts, it begs the question: Can he ever win over the stubbornly loyal Tiger fans, or is his LSU tenure destined to be marked by the shadow of Ed Orgeron’s larger-than-life personality and championship glory?
1. Ed Orgeron’s Shadow Looms Large
You don’t have to live in Baton Rouge long to know that LSU fans are a proud, passionate bunch. They live and breathe LSU football, and when the Tigers are on top, you can feel the excitement in every corner of the city. It’s not just about the game itself, it’s the way LSU wins that matters.
Ed Orgeron, with his gravelly voice, Cajun charm, and deep connection to the state, epitomized everything fans loved about LSU football. He wasn’t just a coach; he was a symbol of Louisiana’s heart and soul. When Coach O led LSU to the national championship in 2019, it felt like a dream come true. Joe Burrow, the 15-0 season, and that unforgettable offense under Joe Brady were enough to cement Orgeron as a living legend. His authenticity and love for LSU made him an icon in Baton Rouge. He was “one of us.”
But of course, things soured quickly after that magical 2019 season. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were a letdown, with Orgeron unable to recapture the magic. By 2021, LSU had fallen back to mediocrity, and despite his beloved status, Orgeron was fired midseason. For the LSU faithful, the abrupt end to the Orgeron era left a bitter taste, but no one could forget the highs of his national championship run.
Enter Brian Kelly, a man with an entirely different persona. And therein lies the problem. While Kelly’s résumé as a head coach is as impressive as they come, he’s about as different from Orgeron as a coach can be. Orgeron was fiery, emotional, and the embodiment of Southern charm. Kelly, on the other hand, comes from a more stoic, methodical background. He’s not one to whip up the crowd with fiery speeches or electrifying locker room rants. Instead, he’s known for his calculated, no-nonsense approach to coaching. For many LSU fans, that’s simply not enough.
They want their coach to be more than a game manager. They want someone who can ignite the crowd with passion, who can connect with Louisiana’s soul, and who can feel like a natural fit for one of the SEC’s most storied programs. Kelly? Well, he’s just not that guy to a large portion of the LSU fanbase. And while he’s a seasoned winner, that “Louisiana swagger” that made Coach O beloved remains elusive.
2. Brian Kelly: An Outsider in Baton Rouge
It’s not just that Kelly isn’t a product of Louisiana football; it’s that he’s a Midwestern guy who left a high-profile job at Notre Dame for what many fans saw as a “greener pasture” at LSU. To many, it felt like Kelly wasn’t just chasing championships—he was chasing a bigger paycheck, a larger platform, and more prestige. That’s a tough pill to swallow when you’ve just watched a coach from your own backyard lead the team to the ultimate prize.
Let’s face it: LSU fans don’t take kindly to outsiders. The idea of a coach from Notre Dame—where the traditions are drastically different and the fanbase, while loyal, is far more reserved—was hard for some to digest. The jump from Notre Dame to LSU wasn’t just a career move; it was a cultural shift, and for many fans, Kelly’s arrival signified a disruption of the culture they had so carefully crafted under Orgeron.
Kelly’s move to LSU was also a tough sell to those who viewed him as another example of a coach chasing the big time, abandoning a program that had helped him reach the heights of college football. And as if the optics weren’t bad enough, Kelly’s early attempts to connect with fans were stiff and awkward. His public speaking style was dry, his social media posts felt robotic, and he never fully embraced the “southern-fried” persona that LSU fans adored in Orgeron. Instead of energizing the fanbase, Kelly’s arrival felt more like a corporate shake-up than a celebration.
3. 2022: A Season of Growing Pains
Kelly’s first season at LSU was full of ups and downs. The Tigers finished with a respectable 10-4 record, but it wasn’t enough to completely erase the lingering doubts about his fit in Baton Rouge. Yes, LSU showed flashes of brilliance—quarterback Jayden Daniels was electric, and the Tigers were competitive in a loaded SEC—but there were also moments of frustration. The season opener against Florida State was a gut-wrenching loss, and an inexplicable defeat to a Texas A&M team that was in freefall capped off the regular season with a bad taste in LSU’s mouth.
Fans were hoping for more immediate success, but instead, they got a mix of promise and frustration. For a program that had just come off a national championship just a few seasons ago, a 10-win season with a loss to a bottom-tier SEC team didn’t feel like enough. In their eyes, LSU was capable of more, and Kelly needed to deliver quickly.
But the early results only deepened the skepticism about Kelly’s long-term viability at LSU. Where was the energy? The swagger? Where was the unmistakable Louisiana spirit that fans had come to expect from their coaches? Kelly was a good coach, but was he the right coach for LSU?
4. 2023: The Jury is Still Out
Heading into the 2023 season, LSU fans were cautiously optimistic. Kelly had a more experienced roster, and Daniels, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in college football, had a full year in his system. But while the Tigers showed signs of greatness—especially on offense—there were still questions that had to be answered. LSU finished the regular season with an 11-2 record, but another SEC Championship berth eluded them, and they fell short in some critical moments. It wasn’t a disaster, but it wasn’t a championship either. For LSU fans, the season felt like a “nearly there” experience—like watching a car drive toward a destination but not quite making it across the finish line.
And so, the skepticism continued to simmer. Could Kelly really build an LSU dynasty, or was he merely a solid coach running a good program? His fans were out there, but they were still waiting for that moment when the magic happened, when Kelly could bring home a title and truly connect with the LSU faithful.
5. 2024 and Beyond: Can Brian Kelly Win the Fans’ Love?
As LSU enters 2024, the question still looms large: Can Brian Kelly win over the LSU fanbase? After a couple of years of grinding out solid results, Kelly still has work to do to win the hearts of a significant portion of the Tiger faithful. For him, this season will be pivotal.
If Kelly can lead LSU to an SEC Championship, if the Tigers can punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff, and if Kelly can showcase that high-energy, high-effort style that LSU fans crave, he might just win them over. But it won’t be easy. The shadow of Orgeron still looms, and Kelly will have to prove that he can build a team that doesn’t just win—he needs to win in a way that feels authentic to LSU’s proud tradition.
Ultimately, if Brian Kelly can continue to win and prove that he understands the culture of LSU, his relationship with the fans will improve. But if he fails to deliver the kind of championship-caliber team that LSU expects, he may never fully shake the feeling that he’s still an outsider—one who never quite earned his place in Baton Rouge. In the world of LSU football, love is earned, and right now, Brian Kelly still has a lot of work to do to get it.
