About 18 years ago, Michigan State football was looking to hire its next head coach, and it landed on Mark Dantonio after taking a look at rising in-state star Brian Kelly.
Kelly was Dantonio's replacement at Cincinnati after spending a few years at Central Michigan following a successful tenure with Grand Valley State. He won back-to-back Division II national titles before Central Michigan hired him, then he went 19-16 in three years with the Chippewas before Cincinnati took him in.
After going 34-6 at Cincinnati over four years, Notre Dame came calling, and he had plenty of success there, winning 92 games (not counting the vacated victories) and even led the Irish to a national title game -- they did lose that game.
LSU hired him away from Notre Dame in 2022, but he hadn't quite lived up to the expectations there, going 34-14 with two 10-win seasons. However, he never finished with fewer than three losses.
That's just not good enough for LSU. So after a 5-3 start to the 2025 season, Kelly was let go.
Kelly becomes the latest head coach to be cut loose, and that means that he and James Franklin are the biggest names to be fired this season, and both could be legitimate options for Michigan State.
Would Kelly be a solid option, though?
Kelly, a Massachusetts native, spent about 20 years coaching in the state of Michigan, so he knows the area and the recruiting landscape here. That would help with Midwest recruiting and ties to the region, especially since he recruited against the Spartans, Michigan Wolverines, and Ohio State Buckeyes while at Notre Dame. Recruiting wouldn't be an issue.
However, he has a personality that I don't think would fit well in East Lansing. He's known for coming down hard on his players and potentially throwing them under the bus, and after an emotional loss, I doubt that would go over well in the locker room.
Kelly is obviously a winner and would have no problem doing that in East Lansing, but I just don't think the cultural fit is there. He wanted the biggest and potentially best job in college football, then he got it, and then he couldn't keep up. I doubt he'd even have interest in taking the MSU job.
Is Kelly a good fit at Michigan State? While I think he would win games and bring some juice back to the program, I just don't think either side has any interest anymore.
If this were still 2007, it would be a different story.