LSU will hire Notre Dame Brian Kelly as the next football head coach

Brian Kelly has left Notre Dame and will be LSU’s next football head coach.

LSU confirmed the amazing move Tuesday morning and announced Kelly had approved a 10-year, $ 95 million deal that also includes incentives. The SEC power plant will officially introduce Kelly at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET.

“I couldn’t be excited to join a program that is committed to excellence, rich traditions, and unparalleled pride and passion for LSU Football,” Kelly said in a statement issued by the school. “I am fully committed to recruiting, developing and graduating top student athletes, winning championships and working with our administration to make Louisiana proud. Our potential is limitless and I can’t wait to get Baton Rouge home.”

In her 12th term at Notre Dame, Kelly will replace Ed Orgeron, who was announced by LSU on October 17 that she will not return as coach in 2022, which is less than two years of undefeated season and national championship.

Kelly, 60, became the winning coach in Notre Dame’s history earlier this season, overtaking Knute Rockne. Kelly is 113-40 (including 21 wins from 2012 and 2013, which were rejected by the NCAA), directing Fighting Irish to the BCS Championship in 2012 and the College Football playoffs in 2018 and 2020.

“Brian Kelly is the embodiment of a winner,” LSU Sports Director Scott Woodward said in a statement. “He has built and maintained success in all of the programs he has led from several unbeatable regular seasons and National Coach of the Year awards to national titles and the playoffs in College Football. His credentials and consistency speak for themselves.

“Most importantly, Coach Kelly’s players and programs are examples of excellence in all aspects of the student-athlete experience – competition, classroom and community – and he shares our values ​​and vision to elevate our university and state. We are excited to welcome him and his family to Baton Roug. , and we’re excited to be working with him as we add to LSU Football’s championship legacy. ”

Kelly was recruiting for Notre Dame when news appeared that she was leaving school, a source told ESPN’s Chris Low. He sent Notre Dame players a group text late Monday night letting them leave and regretting that they found out “through social media or news reports.” Kelly told players he would share more with them at a team meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m., sources said.

Notre Dame, who finished in 6th place in the most recent CFP categories, completed the season 11-1 on Saturday and will continue to compete to reach its third playoff game in College Football in four years. Fighting Irish suffered their only loss of the season on October 2 for 4th place in Cincinnati.

No former Notre Dame coach has ever left an Irishman, the eight national championship winners voted for by the AP, to take a job at another school.

Kelly’s departure comes as a big surprise to the well-known sources at Notre Dame, who spoke to ESPN earlier Monday. According to sources, LSU had contacted Kelly earlier this fall, but she declined any interest in the job. LSU made a new push pass over the weekend.

Last week, Kelly discussed the possibility of leaving Notre Dame for another job and told reporters, “No. [Pittsburgh Steelers coach] Mike Tomlin had the best line, right? Unless that fairy godfather comes to that $ 250 million check, my wife would want to look at it first. I should direct it to him. “

Notre Dame has hosted a press conference for sports director Jack Swarbrick on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. ET.

Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell is the main destination to replace Kelly in Notre Dame, sources told Low. However, the timing would be anything but ideal for Fickell. He has an unbeatable Bearcats College Football playoffs if they can win their match against Houston in Saturday’s AAC championship match.

Fickell has garnered great interest in several other well-known schools in recent years, but his close sources said earlier this year that it would be hardest for him to refuse work at Notre Dame and Ohio State, the latter being his alma mater.

Sources told ESPN that Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame’s defense coordinator, would also receive serious attention as head coach.

Kelly is a 263-96-2 college coach and holds two Division II national titles in Grand Valley State and 10 AP top10 rankings. He came to Notre Dame from Cincinnati, where he won 34-6 with two New Year’s Six bowl appearances.

Kelly brought Notre Dame stability and success unlike the program had done for nearly two decades.

He hasn’t been able to increase the national championship, but the Irish have won a clip they haven’t gotten into since Lou Holtz led the program in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Holtz and the Irish won the national championship in 1988.

Notre Dame ran through three coaches after Holtz but never achieved continued success.

Notre Dame hired Kelly out of Cincinnati to replace Charlie Weis after the 2009 season. It took a while before Kelly found the right mix of coaching staff and recruitment strategy to make the Irish a consistent national challenger. After the Irish went 4-8 in 2016, the Irish are 54-9.

LSU ended the regular season 6-6 on Saturday, shocking Texas A&M at home in Orgeron’s final game. After the win, he announced that he would not be coaching LSU’s upcoming bowler match, but attack line coach Brad Davis will be the game’s temporary head coach.

“Whoever the new coach is, I wish him all the best in the world,” Orgeron said Saturday. “I’m always going to be an LSU fan.”

After LSU won the 2019 national championship behind Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, LSU has gone 11-11, and Orgeron has been accused of misusing the player’s allegations of sexual abuse twice in the past year.

LSU paid Orgeron about $ 9 million this season, making him among the top paid coaches in college football alongside Nick Saban of Alabama, Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Jimbo Fisher of Texas A&M.

Orgeron was expected to earn an average of $ 7 million over the term of its contract, but agreed to purchase $ 16.9 million by 2025.

Kelly’s full salary at Notre Dame, a private school, is unknown, but is believed to be $ 5 million north a year.

LSU had been in contact with several coaches, including Fisher, whom Orgeron won on Saturday and who has vehemently denied leaving Texas A&M for any work during this interim. Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley also shut down speculation over the weekend that he might be ready for LSU work before accepting a position at USC on Sunday.

The Associated Press participated in this report.