News Article
Published
Oct 25, 2026 at 11:45 AM EDT
Brian Kelly’s latest radio take couldn’t have aged much worse.
Paul Finebaum mocked the former LSU head coach on “The Matt Barrie Show” on Oct. 25, one day after Arch Manning bounced back and the Texas Longhorns topped the Ole Miss Rebels. Kelly had spent the week blaming Steve Sarkisian’s play-calling for the quarterback’s slide.
Finebaum noted that LSU fired Kelly a year earlier to the day.
“By the way, I want to congratulate Brian Kelly for calling out Steve Sarkisian this week. He picked a good week to to show what a big-time Sirius XM radio analyst he is. Brian Kelly cannot do anything right, other than now I’m sure he’s trying to find one of these off-brand jobs to land.”
Dismissed in October 2025, Kelly now works as an analyst for CBS Sports and Sirius XM’s College Sports Radio.
His Oct. 22 comments came with Texas reeling from consecutive defeats to unranked Oklahoma and Florida. Against the Gators, the Longhorns totaled 272 yards, went 2 of 10 on third down and gained eight yards on six third-quarter snaps.
Kelly put much of that on the man calling plays.
“It’s on the play caller. I think the play caller takes a lot of the responsibility. Look, he’s your quarterback. They’re not going back. I mean, they’re not going to bench him unless there’s just a total meltdown.”
He cited Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, who has won with defense and the run game using two redshirt freshmen at quarterback.
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Sarkisian had owned part of it, calling a fourth-quarter rollout that ended with Manning sacked against Florida “a crummy call.”
Finebaum’s job-hunting jab isn’t far off, either. Sources told On3’s Pete Nakos that Kelly wants to coach again.
His name surfaced at Rutgers in September, after Greg Schiano’s team stumbled early and lost to UMass. Athletic director Keli Zinn worked with Kelly at LSU.
Kelly joked that he could pull off a Jersey accent, a nod to the Southern drawl he adopted after arriving at LSU.
Maryland and NC State already have head coaching vacancies, with more expected before the season ends. Kelly sits on the hot boards for both.