Brian Kelly responds to joke from reporter about his golf handicap: 'I've had other things to do'

As LSU coach Brian Kelly spoke with reporters at SEC Media Days, a reporter joked with him about his golf handicap. It was a bit of banter during a breakout session during Monday’s opening day of the SEC Kickoff.

Kelly responded by joking about how busy he’s been through June and into July. He said he “had other things to do” as the recruiting trail heated up.

June was a big recruiting month as official visit season ramped up. LSU was busy on the trail, as well, as the program builds out a class headlined by two five-star recruits. That means Kelly didn’t necessarily have time to work on his game.

“You know what? I’ve had other things to do in the month of June. … It goes quickly,” Kelly joked during the breakout.

SEC coaches’ golf games have been a topic of discussion as of late amid Auburn’s struggles on the recruiting trail. Hugh Freeze drew criticism for hitting the links, but he pushed back on that last week during an interview with David Pollack.

LSU has 16 players as part of its 2026 recruiting class, led by Five Star Plus+ athlete Lamar Brown, who committed last week. He is the No. 2 overall player from the cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking.

LSU is getting read for Year 4 under Brian Kelly and looking to rebound from an up-and-down 2024 season. The Tigers finished 9-4 overall and 5-3 in SEC play, but will have their starting quarterback in the fold once again. Garrett Nussmeier is back for one more year after opting not to declare for the NFL Draft, looking to take a leap in Year 2 as the starter.

Nussmeier threw for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns, to 10 interceptions. LSU has a strong history of second-year starters after Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels’ success, and the potential Top-10 pick will look to follow a similar path.

However, Brian Kelly pointed out the expectation isn’t to be either of those players. The goal, quite simply, is to win a championship.

“I would say that when you’re comparing him to Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow, that’s a high bar for anybody, right?” Kelly said. But Garrett is at LSU because he loves LSU. He wants to lead our football team to a championship. If the Heisman follows with that, I think he’s good with that.

“I answer the question this way because all of our conversations with him aren’t about individual goals. They’re about how do I lead this football team to a championship. All we’ve seen is him leading, him being selfless. His selflessness is going to be the differentiator from last year to this year, as well as the experience he had playing against really good SEC teams.”