Brian Kelly Has Never Won a National Title and LSU Is Paying Him $54 Million. He Says Florida State Would Be an Honor.
Brian Kelly is 65, out of coaching, collecting a $54 million buyout from LSU and working two media jobs. On Tuesday he used one of them to let everyone know he would take the Florida State job.
Kelly co-hosts a weekly show on SiriusXM College Sports Radio alongside Danny Kanell and Roy Philpott, a role he took in August. That is where the quotes came from, which matters: nobody solicited this.
“When you’re talking to an unemployed football coach, every job’s a great job, you know?” Kelly said. “Florida State, look, I’ve got a great history with Florida State, great games. I know what that’s like, the history and tradition of Florida State, playing in that state, and the fan base.”
Then the line that traveled: “Certainly leading that program, from anyone’s perspective, would be an honor and privilege.”
The Wording Matters
“From anyone’s perspective” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Kelly never said he wants the job. He said anybody would want the job, which is the safest thing a paid analyst can say about an opening. He did the same last week with Maryland, NC State and Baylor, calling all three attractive, and told Front Office Sports, “If something opens up that looks like a good fit for both sides, I won’t close the door on it.”
What has not happened: any reported contact between Florida State and Brian Kelly. Not a call, not an interview, not a mutual-interest leak. Every outlet that carried the quotes said so, and Florida State has not formally started a search.
Florida State Has Bigger Problems Than Its Candidate List
FSU fired Mike Norvell on Nov. 1, a day after a 36-24 home loss to Clemson left the Seminoles 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Rick Stockstill is the interim. The buyout runs roughly $47 million, about 85 percent of Norvell’s remaining salary through 2031, per the Associated Press.
Here is the part getting lost. Florida State does not have a permanent athletic director. Michael Alford was fired Sept. 14, and president Richard McCullough installed Bruce Warwick on an interim basis. As of Oct. 27, McCullough said the department review was “nearing completion, which means we will be able to begin the search for a new Athletics Director soon.” The plan, then, is to hire a football coach first and the person who supervises him second.
The department also closed fiscal 2025 carrying $437 million in athletic-related debt, a figure FSU has characterized as infrastructural rather than distress.
The Resume, Honestly
Kelly is the winningest coach in Notre Dame history and sits near 300 career wins across Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and LSU. He also has no FBS national championship. Notre Dame lost the 2013 BCS title game to Alabama 42-14 and lost its two College Football Playoff semifinals by a combined 61-17.
He went 34-14 at LSU and was fired in October 2025, a day after a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M dropped the Tigers to 5-3. He then sued the school when it balked at the buyout, and LSU agreed to pay all $54 million. His contract carries offset language, which means an FSU salary would cut LSU’s remaining bill substantially. That is a reason for Kelly to want a job and a reason for a program carrying $437 million in debt to notice.
Seminoles fans were not charmed. One widely shared reply on X read, “Keep this man away from our program.” Florida State itself has said nothing about Kelly, because Florida State has not said anything about anyone. Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, floated by Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman on Sunday, publicly removed himself Tuesday.
That is the whole story right now: a 65-year-old broadcaster with no title and a nine-figure history of buyouts talking himself into a job at a school that cannot yet hire anybody.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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