Brian Kelly ‘cashed out’ at LSU, focused on golf while recruiting slipped before ugly exit

Brian Kelly got paid and then allegedly started focusing more on his tee times than recruiting.

The Athletic Bruce Feldman’s revealed some of the factors that led to Kelly’s shocking Notre Dame firing earlier this season, pointing to his alleged nonchalant approach to recruiting.

“You talk to people, they though he cashed out there, that he would spend a lot more time golfing than he did around the building,” Feldman said on the “Ryen Russillo show.”

Brian Kelly was fired midseason. AP

Kelly ultimately got fired for not winning enough, going 34-14 with the Tigers but lacking signature wins, and often times a failure to reach the sport’s highest level can tie back to recruiting.

He assembled classes ranked seventh, fourth, ninth and seventh, respectively, in his times in The Bayou, per 247, but folks around Kelly noticed that he allegedly didn’t give it his all.

Recruiting at LSU provided a much different task than at his former school, Notre Dame.

“When he was at Notre Dame, he was largely dealing with a different kind of kid,” Feldman said.

“And then he went down there (to LSU), I think it was like he couldn’t relate and didn’t want to recruit, that’s the other big part of this.”

Feldman noted that while former LSU coach Ed Orgeron — whom he covered in a book — would take recruits’ calls at any and all hours, Kelly operated more like a businessman.

Those businessman ways purportedly aligned with his time on the links, making him the second coach accused of golfing too much after previous allegations against ex-Auburn coach Hugh Freeze.

“When that would happen with Brian Kelly, he would say, ‘Make an appointment’ to the assistant coaches,” Feldman said. “You don’t do that. The guy would put the kid on hold and be like, ‘Wait, I got him on the phone right now, I can’t wait till Thursday. You don’t know how that looks.”

That approach led to some players having a lack of connection with Kelly.

“One of the players, it was a starting center for him for two years was like, ‘I had no relationship with him, he didn’t try to get to know me,'” Feldman said. “And I think those things matter.”

LSU opted to move on from Kelly despite owing him $54 million in a buyout, but the divorce is now turning ugly with Kelly suing the school since its trying to avoid paying him the full amount owed.