News Article: Brian Kelly's Take on the future of the SEC

[dtgreg]

I think Kiffin who has won B2B 10-win season is more of a threat than Kelly. What Lane has done at Ole Miss is impressive. If he can adjust some of his in-game decision and stubbornness, this year's OM team could be his best chance to make the Playoffs. The game vs Georgia at Oxford this season will tell us both about these teams.

What CLK has done at Ole Miss is just spectacular. He'll be the next Florida coach if they can offer competitive NIL. He should have been the A&M coach but they're insane. Jimbo bought all of Lane's recruits and Lane still won 10 games a year with their cast-offs while Jimbo bumbled.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Brian Kelly and LSU ready for national title without Jayden Daniels (usatoday.com)


“Kalen DeBoer is an outstanding football coach,” Kelly said of Saban’s heir. “His success is real. They hired somebody that, I think, creates the same kind of expectations at Alabama.”

No longer, though, does Saban directly impede Kelly’s championship quest.

Who’s the new face of the challenge?

“It’s Kirby Smart,” Kelly said.

Imitation is a college football coach’s highest compliment, and Kelly’s program-building blueprint for LSU resembles Smart’s method at Georgia. Kelly doesn’t covet Lane Kiffin’s “Portal King” throne. He’s intent on signing and developing recruits and using transfers to fill cracks.

I think Kelly is putting the cart before the horse with his Smart comment. Alabama with or w/o GOAT will still be LSU's nemesis.

I hope Kelly continues to down play Alabama. Maybe LSU will not practice for Alabama as much as they practice for Georgia.
I'll take any advantage I can get.

 

[dtgreg]

I hope Kelly continues to down play Alabama. Maybe LSU will not practice for Alabama as much as they practice for Georgia.
I'll take any advantage I can get.

Gene Stallings said it best: "Whistling past the graveyard".

 

[Ledsteplin]

From what I read, I don't see he's downplaying Alabama. He still respects Alabama and Coach DeBoer. He's just saying now that Saban is gone, Kirby is the man. At least for now.

 

[Con]

From what I read, I don't see he's downplaying Alabama. He still respects Alabama and Coach DeBoer. He's just saying now that Saban is gone, Kirby is the man. At least for now.

Yep, and with Kirby’s 13 million dollar/year contract, Georgia thinks he is the man now too.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Yep, and with Kirby’s 13 million dollar/year contract, Georgia thinks he is the man now too.

I was a bit surprised by that figure. It's not like he was going anywhere if he didn't get that much. Maybe it was a "Don't even try" statement from Georgia to other schools.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I was a bit surprised by that figure. It's not like he was going anywhere if he didn't get that much. Maybe it was a "Don't even try" statement from Georgia to other schools.

This is very similar to what happened with Dabo during Clemsons run. Granted they didn't win two in a row but won two titles in a short turnaround, Clemson "paid" Dabo and his staff then that level of success never returned.

 

[CajunCrimson]

I think Kiffin who has won B2B 10-win season is more of a threat than Kelly. What Lane has done at Ole Miss is impressive. If he can adjust some of his in-game decision and stubbornness, this year's OM team could be his best chance to make the Playoffs. The game vs Georgia at Oxford this season will tell us both about these teams.

I agree. Lane is adapting. Kirby is still trying to replicate what his boss did, even though his boss understood that he couldn’t do it that way anymore. Kirby is about one or two years away from being Dabo.

 

[Con]

I agree. Lane is adapting. Kirby is still trying to replicate what his boss did, even though his boss understood that he couldn’t do it that way anymore. Kirby is about one or two years away from being Dabo.

I am hoping your comment is right on the money.

 

[davefrat]

I agree. Lane is adapting. Kirby is still trying to replicate what his boss did, even though his boss understood that he couldn’t do it that way anymore. Kirby is about one or two years away from being Dabo.

I don't see that being the case, but I'd be quite happy were things to play out that way.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

Yep, and with Kirby’s 13 million dollar/year contract, Georgia thinks he is the man now too.

Remember when the rest of CFB went nuts over CNS getting $4M?

 

[CajunCrimson]

I don't see that being the case, but I'd be quite happy were things to play out that way.

How much of Kirby’s success has been due to playing in the East and a weak OOC?

 

[Con]

Remember when the rest of CFB went nuts over CNS getting $4M?

Yes, that is how far we have come. There is a lot of money being thrown around for college football now.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

Kirby is pretty clearly the top coach right now. I don't think there should be much debate about that. That can obviously change but he sits at the top for now.

Also, he is using the portal quite a bit he isn't Dabo and basically refusing to go after transfers. He's also recruiting much better than Dabo on the HS level. IMO the guy who could be rising, outside of hopefully DeBoer, is Sark. He's also been recruiting really really well. Ryan Day could rise up the list as well if he starts winning Championships, this season is big for him.

Kiffin needs a bigger program to be a real consistent threat IMO.

 

[davefrat]

How much of Kirby’s success has been due to playing in the East and a weak OOC?

Idk but he's built a juggernaut at UGA and I don't see them slipping too much in the near future.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see them revert back to their Mark Richt form, but I don't see that happening.

 

[CajunCrimson]

Idk but he's built a juggernaut at UGA and I don't see them slipping too much in the near future.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see them revert back to their Mark Richt form, but I don't see that happening.

I agree. He has built a monster. But it was a monster that resided in the previous college football world. I wonder how long he can sustain it, with the changes.

 

[davefrat]

I agree. He has built a monster. But it was a monster that resided in the previous college football world. I wonder how long he can sustain it, with the changes.

Also, will any NFL teams come calling on him at some point?

I don't think so, because he seems like a college coach all the way, but who knows.

 

[mdb-tpet]

Also, will any NFL teams come calling on him at some point?

I don't think so, because he seems like a college coach all the way, but who knows.

The only coach who really has given Kirby trouble in the last 3 football seasons is Coach Saban (Ryan Day and Ohio State gets an honorable mention). Without Alabama and Coach Saban, Georgia has had a figurative cake walk through college football.

 

[BamaInBham]

Remember when the rest of CFB went nuts over CNS getting $4M?

It was because he was at Alabama. If he had been anywhere else they would have been praised for their great hire. And Saban was making ~$3.5 his first year not $4 mil, IIRC. He took a pay cut. Bob Stoops was making $3+ mil and Joe Castiglione was praised for being forward-looking. ND had previously (2005) given Charlie Weis a 10-yr contract for a reported $30-40 mil and was praised by all for being proactive. This was when he was 5-2 halfway through his first season of being HC. Alabama hires Nick Saban and Miles Brand voices his concern, echoing the media's outrage. Saban's change of mind was standard operating procedure but the media piled on like never before or since in the history of sports broadcasting.

This is another reason why Alabama fans should be ever grateful to CNS. He knew that if he had been anywhere else, e.g., Texas, he would have been exalted far above all other coaches in the sport's history but because he was at Alabama his praise is as measured as it can be. Now the term is a "great run", one of the "best runs in college football", etc. When in fact it is easily the greatest run in the sport's history during its most competitive era, in the most competitive conference and the most competitive division in the sport's history, with the highest stakes; it is one of the great runs in American sports, pro or big-time college. "We want Bama" became an American idiom transcending football (there were several nations, including from South America, Europe and Africa who held up such banners during WC and Olympic soccer), as well as NFL and HS football teams. Other sports too, though I have forgotten the details. It meant that you were ready for the big time, either in jest or sincerity.

He changed the sport in the way it was played and even more in the way that it is managed and administered. It is a completely different sport now than it was in 2006 - and that was without the NIL and TP changes. In an article ~2 or 3 years ago, in the off-season, Ryan Day said that every decision they made and everything they did was with Alabama in mind. But few will give him his due because he did it at Alabama. Alabama does not even get credit for the small things like the medical tent, etc. "How can those rubes make any meaningful contribution to anything?" Nick knew this and stayed anyway. (IMO, not the, but a primary reason was Mal Moore, whose spirit CNS deeply appreciated.)

But the bias against Alabama is very real and it is not because of Saban's success, it existed long before, it has only intensified because of his success.

 

[Con]

It was because he was at Alabama. If he had been anywhere else they would have been praised for their great hire. And Saban was making ~$3.5 his first year not $4 mil, IIRC. He took a pay cut. Bob Stoops was making $3+ mil and Joe Castiglione was praised for being forward-looking. ND had previously (2005) given Charlie Weis a 10-yr contract for a reported $30-40 mil and was praised by all for being proactive. This was when he was 5-2 halfway through his first season of being HC. Alabama hires Nick Saban and Miles Brand voices his concern, echoing the media's outrage. Saban's change of mind was standard operating procedure but the media piled on like never before or since in the history of sports broadcasting.

This is another reason why Alabama fans should be ever grateful to CNS. He knew that if he had been anywhere else, e.g., Texas, he would have been exalted far above all other coaches in the sport's history but because he was at Alabama his praise is as measured as it can be. Now the term is a "great run", one of the "best runs in college football", etc. When in fact it is easily the greatest run in the sport's history during its most competitive era, in the most competitive conference and the most competitive division in the sport's history, with the highest stakes; it is one of the great runs in American sports, pro or big-time college. "We want Bama" became an American idiom transcending football (there were several nations, including from South America, Europe and Africa who held up such banners during WC and Olympic soccer), as well as NFL and HS football teams. Other sports too, though I have forgotten the details. It meant that you were ready for the big time, either in jest or sincerity.

He changed the sport in the way it was played and even more in the way that it is managed and administered. It is a completely different sport now than it was in 2006 - and that was without the NIL and TP changes. In an article ~2 or 3 years ago, in the off-season, Ryan Day said that every decision they made and everything they did was with Alabama in mind. But few will give him his due because he did it at Alabama. Alabama does not even get credit for the small things like the medical tent, etc. "How can those rubes make any meaningful contribution to anything?" Nick knew this and stayed anyway. (IMO, not the, but a primary reason was Mal Moore, whose spirit CNS deeply appreciated.)

But the bias against Alabama is very real and it is not because of Saban's success, it existed long before, it has only intensified because of his success.

I love this post @BamaInBham!