Irish Breakdown

Brian Kelly’s Rough Month Highlights the Challenges of Modern College Football

A difficult month for Brian Kelly underscores how the evolving landscape of college football is testing even veteran coaches.

John Kennedy

Oct 19, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly reacts to a call in the first half against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
Oct 19, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly reacts to a call in the first half against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
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Brian Kelly, always a lightning rod in the world of college football regardless of where he's coaching, has had a rough last few weeks.

His LSU team has now lost its last three games in a row in ugly fashion to Texas A&M, Alabama, and Florida, and has now just lost the crowned jewel of its 2025 recruiting class with five-star QB Bryce Underwood flipping his long-time verbal pledge from LSU to Michigan.

Allegedly, a massive financial package by Michigan played a large part in Underwood's desire to stay closer to home as a Michigan product and play for the Wolverines, even after almost a year-long pledge to LSU.

It's a new landscape in the world of top-end college football recruiting. Players can get paid. And are getting paid. A lot in some cases. All moralizing or talking about the "old days were better" does nobody any good now.

This is the new reality of recruiting and teams are either going to have to get onboard or get left behind. This is just the way it is, like it or not.

This type of Underwood dynamic could happen to any coach at any school, that being said, few I've seen, heard, or read are quick to feel bad for Kelly being on the losing end of this very public loss. Make of that what you will.

What Notre Dame can learn from the Underwood recruiting saga

Notre Dame is in no way immune to what happened to Kelly and LSU this week.

In fact, you could argue that Freeman went through something similar, but on a lesser scale losing out on longtime Irish commit Deuce Knight.

Notre Dame is not an institution that I see wanting to get into many public "pay for play" battles, but it must find a way to compete in this marketplace at the same time.

How will the Irish navigate this rapidly evolving landscape?

Modern leadership like Pete Bevacqua and Marcus Freeman are tied to reality.

They know that Notre Dame must be financially competitive to stay competitive on the field. It'll be on them to thread the needle between being in the paying game while maintaining Notre Dame's educational values at the same time.

Resources should not be something that holds Notre Dame back in this area. There is money to be had, but the messaging, tone, and way it gets accessed for football usage must be navigated carefully. In this regard,

Freeman and Bevacqua are the perfect stewards who can thread the needle between football power and Notre Dame values.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.

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John Kennedy
JOHN KENNEDY

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