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Nick Saban is right – “No Games, No Fun”!
Let’s admit it. Being the coach of a major college football team sounds like a fun job.
Most big-time coaches have multi-year contracts with payouts of far more than $1 million in the event that they are fired prior to the end of the agreement.
I’m still waiting for an employer to offer that kind of deal to me, my wife, my sons, or any of my friends. How about you?
On the surface, a major college football coach like Alabama’s legendary Nick Saban would seem to have the greatest job in the world.
He had players from around the country begging to get a scholarship offer to play football at Alabama. Saban had the pick of the litter of his assistant coaches, too.
Playing for or working with Coach Nick Saban was resume builder for players and assistant coaches alike.
The legendary coach sent dozens of former players into the NFL and spawned a number of highly successful college football coaches.
In truth, did Nick Saban really look as if he was having any fun in becoming the most successful college football coach (seven national championships – six at Alabama and one at LSU)?
Perhaps that’s why his satirical television commercial for a vacation home rental company makes me and my wife pay attention and laugh every time we see it.
“That’s the rule”
LSU college football coach Brian Kelly has his 2025 Tigers at 4-1 this season. They are ranked #11 in the AP this week. FYI – the Tigers came in at #26 in my SwampSwamiSports.com rankings this week.
LSU can claim a win against 4-1 Louisiana Tech with a 23-7 struggle at Tiger Stadium in early September. The Tigers’ 17-10 season opening win against the overrated AP preseason #4 Clemson Tigers prematurely boosted LSU into that same #4 spot the following week.
Clemson is now 2-3 and has vanished from the national polls.
Coach Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers survived a close home game against 2-4 Florida.
Five interceptions courtesy of Florida’s often-erratic quarterback D.J. Lagway allowed LSU to claim an unimpressive 20-10 win.
A win is a win, but that one was downright ugly.
The 4-0 Tigers then hit the road for a game against 4-0 Ole Miss. The Rebels won 24-19 in a game which wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. LSU dropped to 4-1 and fell out of the AP Top 10.
Coach Brian Kelly is a lot like Nick Saban – except for the National Championships
LSU Tiger fans have let loose recently about being unhappy with Coach Brian Kelly.
He is from Michigan (a Yankee!) and had never coached in the South before coming to Baton Rouge.
Coach Kelly is extremely smart and generally conducts press conferences by providing the media with some well-reasoned answers to most of their questions.
LSU’s current head football coach is definitely NOT warm and fuzzy, though.
He doesn’t use humor (intentional or accidental) like former coaches Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. Both of those ex-coaches can claim one national title while in charge of football at LSU.
Tiger fans adopted the goofiness of “Uncle” Les Miles and “Cajun Cousin” Ed Orgeron while their teams were winning.
Hey, they were “one of us”, right?
Actually, Les Miles was from Ohio and played at the University of Michigan. Prior to arriving at LSU, Coach Miles had never been further south than Stillwater, Oklahoma when he was the head coach at Oklahoma State University.
Miles’ unique ability to twist the language, his BIG white LSU golf cap, his unusual habit of tasting the grass field prior to games, and occasional outbursts of passion along the sidelines endeared him to many LSU fans.
Well, as long as the team was winning.
Les Miles was fired in September, 2016 and replaced by assistant coach Ed Orgeron. Coach Miles posted a record of 77-34 (69.3%) over his 12 seasons at LSU.
Coach O is from the bayous of south Louisiana (Larose) and spoke fluent Cajun to the delight of many LSU fans. The former offensive lineman played college football at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA prior to entering the coaching profession.
Ed Orgeron was at LSU for six seasons and posted a 51-20 record (71.8%) prior to being terminated after the 2021 football season. His 2019 LSU team (led by future NFL quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase) went a perfect 15-0 in winning the national championship.
Orgeron’s lack of personal discipline began to carry over to the LSU football team. When the LSU started to struggle on the field, fans didn’t find Coach O as charming and funny anymore.
Enter Brian Kelly
Coach Kelly’s track record of coaching success has been quite impressive.
He brought Western Michigan from 4-7 in year 1 to 9-4 three years later in 2005 with a rare bowl game for the Broncos.
The University of Cincinnati hired Brian Kelly in 2006. The Bearkats quickly became national championship contenders after Coach Kelly’s teams posted 10-3, 10-3, and 12-0 records from 2007 – 2009.
Notre Dame tapped Brian Kelly to come and revive the Fighting Irish starting in 2010.
In 12 seasons at South Bend, Coach Kelly’s teams won 92 games and lost 39 (a 70.2% winning percentage). The final five years of his tenure at Notre Dame had the team winning ten or more games in each season.
LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward (an LSU grad) hired Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly to take over the under-disciplined LSU football team beginning with the 2022 football season.
Coach Kelly was totally different from Les Miles and Ed Orgeron.
He wore nice suits to press conferences and spoke much like a polished television analyst to the assembled press.
Perhaps Brian Kelly thought, “If Les Miles and Ed Orgeron can win national championships with Louisiana’s talented football players, I should be able to do it, too!”
That’s certainly what LSU fans expected when this “Yankee” coach was hired to pilot their beloved Tigers football team back to greatness.
They signed Coach Kelly to a whopping ten year, $100 million contract in April, 2022.
If he is fired prior to the end of the 2031 football season, Kelly will still receive 90% of the remaining money on that long-term contract.
Ouch.
The less-than-affable Brian Kelly led LSU to records of 10-4 and 10-3 in 2022 and 2023. A 9-4 record in 2024 and this year’s 4-1 start has BK’s LSU record currently at 33-12 (73.3%).
You might notice that Coach Kelly’s record at Notre Dame was also in the 70% winning percentage range.
Spoiled fans? Not us!!!
Let’s take a closer look at the last four LSU head football coaches and their records.
Nick Saban – 2000-2004 – 48-16 (75%) + the 2003 National Championship
Les Miles – 2005-2016 – 77-34 (69.3%) + the 2007 National Championship
Ed Orgeron – 2016-2021 – 51-20 (71.8%) + the 2019 National Championship
Brian Kelly – 2022-Current – 33-12 (73.3%) – No SEC or National titles – yet
All four coaches hovered around a 70% winning percentage. Coaches Saban, Miles, and Orgeron each captured a national championship while at LSU.
Keep in mind that the trio won those national titles prior to the advent of today’s cash-grab called the NIL. Players can and do transfer annually in pursuit of more money and additional playing time.
It’s hard to say how much more difficult it is for LSU coach Brian Kelly to compete in today’s environment. LSU spent nearly $20 million this season to primarily overhaul its defense for this season.
The 4-1 LSU Tigers have some really tough upcoming SEC games.
This Saturday, LSU will host 3-2 South Carolina.
Then it’s a road trip to 5-1 Vanderbilt, a home match-up with 5-0 Texas A&M, at 4-1 Alabama, at home versus 2-3 Arkansas and 5-1 Western Kentucky and finish the regular season at 5-0 Oklahoma.
Anything less than finishing 9-3 is certain to have a growing number of LSU fans ready to donate to the “Fire BK Fund” after the season ends.
Given the gauntlet of LSU’s upcoming opponents, I think finishing 9-3 would be downright exceptional this season.
When Brian Kelly was hired, I told a couple of long-time friends that Coach Kelly would bring more discipline to the LSU football program.
His previous track record also suggested that LSU should win 8-10 games per year (70+%) and, perhaps, lead to a few opportunities to win the SEC and compete for another national title.
Thus far, Brian Kelly has met my original expectations. I’ll give him a “B” through this point in Year #4.
Perhaps that is why Nick Saban is doing those vacation rental commercials today
Coach Nick Saban retired from Alabama two years ago at age 71 for good reasons.
He was smart enough to see that Bama could not continue to stockpile 5-star and 4-star high school stars and dangle the carrot of “You will make big bucks in the NFL if you will just stay here and play on my championship football teams!”
Bama’s bench players were good enough to receive financial offers from any number of top football programs.
The Tide’s starters wanted even more loot to stick around to play another year in Tuscaloosa.
Nick Saban had already coached for two seasons in the NFL. He knew how pro football players (making more money than the head coach) failed to respond to his highly disciplined program.
Coach Saban demanded tight control and a locker room full of players committed to following every minute detail of his playbook in order to win championships.
The growing pile of money in college football today means that some players prefer to grab the cash right now rather than play for a national championship caliber team. They also know that NFL teams will track and draft the most talented players – wherever they should play college football in any year.
Today’s mantra is, “Pay me now, and then pay me more once I reach the NFL.”
Unfortunately, LSU fans need to understand that a national championship is not a given at any university these days.
It would cost LSU’s supporters more than $51 million to send Coach Brian Kelly out the door and to the golf course after the 2025 season ends.
Coach Kelly came to LSU with the goal of winning a national championship. His fiery outburst toward a reporter at a recent post-game press conference suggests to me that he is not giving up on that quest this season.
Keep an eye on LSU’s Brian Kelly over the next two months as the second half of the season unfolds.
If he shows up at a weekly press conference with a set of golf clubs up near the podium, it’s likely that Brian Kelly has been chatting with Nick Saban about one of his “fun” vacation rental units!
The post Nick Saban is right – “No Games, No Fun”! appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.
View all episodes
By SwampSwamiSports.comLet’s admit it. Being the coach of a major college football team sounds like a fun job.
Most big-time coaches have multi-year contracts with payouts of far more than $1 million in the event that they are fired prior to the end of the agreement.
I’m still waiting for an employer to offer that kind of deal to me, my wife, my sons, or any of my friends. How about you?
On the surface, a major college football coach like Alabama’s legendary Nick Saban would seem to have the greatest job in the world.
He had players from around the country begging to get a scholarship offer to play football at Alabama. Saban had the pick of the litter of his assistant coaches, too.
Playing for or working with Coach Nick Saban was resume builder for players and assistant coaches alike.
The legendary coach sent dozens of former players into the NFL and spawned a number of highly successful college football coaches.
In truth, did Nick Saban really look as if he was having any fun in becoming the most successful college football coach (seven national championships – six at Alabama and one at LSU)?
Perhaps that’s why his satirical television commercial for a vacation home rental company makes me and my wife pay attention and laugh every time we see it.
“That’s the rule”
LSU college football coach Brian Kelly has his 2025 Tigers at 4-1 this season. They are ranked #11 in the AP this week. FYI – the Tigers came in at #26 in my SwampSwamiSports.com rankings this week.
LSU can claim a win against 4-1 Louisiana Tech with a 23-7 struggle at Tiger Stadium in early September. The Tigers’ 17-10 season opening win against the overrated AP preseason #4 Clemson Tigers prematurely boosted LSU into that same #4 spot the following week.
Clemson is now 2-3 and has vanished from the national polls.
Coach Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers survived a close home game against 2-4 Florida.
Five interceptions courtesy of Florida’s often-erratic quarterback D.J. Lagway allowed LSU to claim an unimpressive 20-10 win.
A win is a win, but that one was downright ugly.
The 4-0 Tigers then hit the road for a game against 4-0 Ole Miss. The Rebels won 24-19 in a game which wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. LSU dropped to 4-1 and fell out of the AP Top 10.
Coach Brian Kelly is a lot like Nick Saban – except for the National Championships
LSU Tiger fans have let loose recently about being unhappy with Coach Brian Kelly.
He is from Michigan (a Yankee!) and had never coached in the South before coming to Baton Rouge.
Coach Kelly is extremely smart and generally conducts press conferences by providing the media with some well-reasoned answers to most of their questions.
LSU’s current head football coach is definitely NOT warm and fuzzy, though.
He doesn’t use humor (intentional or accidental) like former coaches Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. Both of those ex-coaches can claim one national title while in charge of football at LSU.
Tiger fans adopted the goofiness of “Uncle” Les Miles and “Cajun Cousin” Ed Orgeron while their teams were winning.
Hey, they were “one of us”, right?
Actually, Les Miles was from Ohio and played at the University of Michigan. Prior to arriving at LSU, Coach Miles had never been further south than Stillwater, Oklahoma when he was the head coach at Oklahoma State University.
Miles’ unique ability to twist the language, his BIG white LSU golf cap, his unusual habit of tasting the grass field prior to games, and occasional outbursts of passion along the sidelines endeared him to many LSU fans.
Well, as long as the team was winning.
Les Miles was fired in September, 2016 and replaced by assistant coach Ed Orgeron. Coach Miles posted a record of 77-34 (69.3%) over his 12 seasons at LSU.
Coach O is from the bayous of south Louisiana (Larose) and spoke fluent Cajun to the delight of many LSU fans. The former offensive lineman played college football at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA prior to entering the coaching profession.
Ed Orgeron was at LSU for six seasons and posted a 51-20 record (71.8%) prior to being terminated after the 2021 football season. His 2019 LSU team (led by future NFL quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase) went a perfect 15-0 in winning the national championship.
Orgeron’s lack of personal discipline began to carry over to the LSU football team. When the LSU started to struggle on the field, fans didn’t find Coach O as charming and funny anymore.
Enter Brian Kelly
Coach Kelly’s track record of coaching success has been quite impressive.
He brought Western Michigan from 4-7 in year 1 to 9-4 three years later in 2005 with a rare bowl game for the Broncos.
The University of Cincinnati hired Brian Kelly in 2006. The Bearkats quickly became national championship contenders after Coach Kelly’s teams posted 10-3, 10-3, and 12-0 records from 2007 – 2009.
Notre Dame tapped Brian Kelly to come and revive the Fighting Irish starting in 2010.
In 12 seasons at South Bend, Coach Kelly’s teams won 92 games and lost 39 (a 70.2% winning percentage). The final five years of his tenure at Notre Dame had the team winning ten or more games in each season.
LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward (an LSU grad) hired Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly to take over the under-disciplined LSU football team beginning with the 2022 football season.
Coach Kelly was totally different from Les Miles and Ed Orgeron.
He wore nice suits to press conferences and spoke much like a polished television analyst to the assembled press.
Perhaps Brian Kelly thought, “If Les Miles and Ed Orgeron can win national championships with Louisiana’s talented football players, I should be able to do it, too!”
That’s certainly what LSU fans expected when this “Yankee” coach was hired to pilot their beloved Tigers football team back to greatness.
They signed Coach Kelly to a whopping ten year, $100 million contract in April, 2022.
If he is fired prior to the end of the 2031 football season, Kelly will still receive 90% of the remaining money on that long-term contract.
Ouch.
The less-than-affable Brian Kelly led LSU to records of 10-4 and 10-3 in 2022 and 2023. A 9-4 record in 2024 and this year’s 4-1 start has BK’s LSU record currently at 33-12 (73.3%).
You might notice that Coach Kelly’s record at Notre Dame was also in the 70% winning percentage range.
Spoiled fans? Not us!!!
Let’s take a closer look at the last four LSU head football coaches and their records.
Nick Saban – 2000-2004 – 48-16 (75%) + the 2003 National Championship
Les Miles – 2005-2016 – 77-34 (69.3%) + the 2007 National Championship
Ed Orgeron – 2016-2021 – 51-20 (71.8%) + the 2019 National Championship
Brian Kelly – 2022-Current – 33-12 (73.3%) – No SEC or National titles – yet
All four coaches hovered around a 70% winning percentage. Coaches Saban, Miles, and Orgeron each captured a national championship while at LSU.
Keep in mind that the trio won those national titles prior to the advent of today’s cash-grab called the NIL. Players can and do transfer annually in pursuit of more money and additional playing time.
It’s hard to say how much more difficult it is for LSU coach Brian Kelly to compete in today’s environment. LSU spent nearly $20 million this season to primarily overhaul its defense for this season.
The 4-1 LSU Tigers have some really tough upcoming SEC games.
This Saturday, LSU will host 3-2 South Carolina.
Then it’s a road trip to 5-1 Vanderbilt, a home match-up with 5-0 Texas A&M, at 4-1 Alabama, at home versus 2-3 Arkansas and 5-1 Western Kentucky and finish the regular season at 5-0 Oklahoma.
Anything less than finishing 9-3 is certain to have a growing number of LSU fans ready to donate to the “Fire BK Fund” after the season ends.
Given the gauntlet of LSU’s upcoming opponents, I think finishing 9-3 would be downright exceptional this season.
When Brian Kelly was hired, I told a couple of long-time friends that Coach Kelly would bring more discipline to the LSU football program.
His previous track record also suggested that LSU should win 8-10 games per year (70+%) and, perhaps, lead to a few opportunities to win the SEC and compete for another national title.
Thus far, Brian Kelly has met my original expectations. I’ll give him a “B” through this point in Year #4.
Perhaps that is why Nick Saban is doing those vacation rental commercials today
Coach Nick Saban retired from Alabama two years ago at age 71 for good reasons.
He was smart enough to see that Bama could not continue to stockpile 5-star and 4-star high school stars and dangle the carrot of “You will make big bucks in the NFL if you will just stay here and play on my championship football teams!”
Bama’s bench players were good enough to receive financial offers from any number of top football programs.
The Tide’s starters wanted even more loot to stick around to play another year in Tuscaloosa.
Nick Saban had already coached for two seasons in the NFL. He knew how pro football players (making more money than the head coach) failed to respond to his highly disciplined program.
Coach Saban demanded tight control and a locker room full of players committed to following every minute detail of his playbook in order to win championships.
The growing pile of money in college football today means that some players prefer to grab the cash right now rather than play for a national championship caliber team. They also know that NFL teams will track and draft the most talented players – wherever they should play college football in any year.
Today’s mantra is, “Pay me now, and then pay me more once I reach the NFL.”
Unfortunately, LSU fans need to understand that a national championship is not a given at any university these days.
It would cost LSU’s supporters more than $51 million to send Coach Brian Kelly out the door and to the golf course after the 2025 season ends.
Coach Kelly came to LSU with the goal of winning a national championship. His fiery outburst toward a reporter at a recent post-game press conference suggests to me that he is not giving up on that quest this season.
Keep an eye on LSU’s Brian Kelly over the next two months as the second half of the season unfolds.
If he shows up at a weekly press conference with a set of golf clubs up near the podium, it’s likely that Brian Kelly has been chatting with Nick Saban about one of his “fun” vacation rental units!
The post Nick Saban is right – “No Games, No Fun”! appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.