Brian Kelly opens up about being fired by LSU, and if he plans to coach again

A season that started with national title hopes in Baton Rouge under Brian Kelly and a loaded roster got off to a great 4-0 to open the season, but after losing to Ole Miss in late September, Kelly would lead the Tigers to a win over South Carolina before back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Texas A&M dropped them from #3 in the country to 5-3 on the year.

A day after their 49-25 loss to the Aggies in Tiger Stadium, LSU brass decided to hit the reset button, paving the way for the pursuit of Lane Kiffin and the most captivating late-season storyline in college football last season.

Speaking for the first time since his dismissal leading LSU on Sirius XM's "Dusty and Danny in the Morning" recently, Kelly opened up about the end of his run at LSU and the feelings that came with being fired for the first time in his career.

"Let's put it in perspective, I've had 33 years in this business and over 300 wins, I've had two losing seasons in 33 years...so my entire career has been built upon having some kind of success, and when you get fired you get told you're not the guy for the job. So that's probably the first thing. You start thinking about the things you've done for three decades, and I don't know that you question, but you look carefully about why this happened."

"The easy answer is I didn't win enough games. That's the bottom line, right? But we came there to build a program, and we didn't get a chance to finish it."

"So I think the overriding emotion in that respect is disappointed in that we didn't get to finish the job. I think that's probably the one thing, because I've been in it long enough to know that if you're in this long enough, you're probably going to get fired but I never thought that would occur. So I think the emotion, more than anything else, was disappointment."

Kelly, who is 64, and holds a career record of 297-109-2 (after having wins vacated from the 2013 season at Notre Dame) from stops as a head coach at Grand Valley State (D-II - MI), Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and LSU, was asked about if he plans to coach again as well during the interview, and it certainly sounds like that could be in the cards, provided the right opportunity arises. 

“I don’t know that I’ve made the decision that I want to get back in, as all the things we’ve talked about, I’d want to see some changes. But I think while you wait, you need to work. So, I need to stay in the game."

"My first order of business is this next two, three weeks, I’m going to be visiting some places to see spring ball, get a chance to see some things - relative to the football side, the operational side, some of the things we talked about today with NIL, transfer and calendar - and get a temperature in the spring for some things."

Kelly would go on to share he expects his visits to stretch into the fall as well, where he plans to extend his visits into the NFL.

“I want to do that in the fall, too. I want to get out and — look, I’ve got four former assistant coaches that are head football coaches in the NFL. I’ve got four Power Four assistant coaches that we’re close to. I want to get around and see their program, see how they’re doing, get a sense of where I can grow and I can be better."

"So, that's really my focus right now. If the right situation comes about, and I'm ready, I'm certainly going to entertain that."

If you recall, Kelly's contract from his time in Baton Rouge calls for a buyout of $54 million from LSU.

Hear more from Kelly from that interview in the pair of clips provided below.