Brian Kelly says LSU needs to 'take another step up' in Year 3

Things have started well for Brian Kelly in two seasons as the LSU head football coach. But he also knows the expectations for success in Baton Rouge are higher than the level the Tigers have achieved the past two seasons.

After posting double-digit wins in each of his first two seasons and appearing in the SEC Championship Game his first season, Kelly has LSU in position to push for even more. And joining the Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday, Kelly outlined that a step into the upper-echelon of college football is the goal at LSU.

“So going into Year 3, I think more than anything else, I feel really comfortable with the standards and the way things are being done on a day-to-day basis,” Kelly said. “You can feel it in the building. The players understand the expectations. And clearly we need to take another step up, 10 wins is really, I think, the price of admission where we need to be. But we need to take that next step up here. So I’m happy that we’ve stabilized the program, put it back in a position where it needs to be. Now, it’s taking that next step.”

Things will also be different around LSU as the Tigers seek to compete for a national championship.

With a subpar defense in 2023, LSU made a change at defensive coordinator and brought in Blake Baker to run that unit. Quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan was also promoted to offensive coordinator.

And Kelly is hopeful the balance of continuity as his program enters a third season and new coaching ideas on both sides of the ball can pay dividends for LSU in 2024. With recruiting as strong as ever for the Tigers, the requisite pieces are all in place for LSU to be a potential powerhouse in 2024 and beyond.

But it starts with a leap that LSU will need to take this year.

“Along the way we had to make some changes because we weren’t living up to the standards that we need to on the defensive side of the ball, so we’ve made some major changes on that side,” Kelly said. “Blake Baker coming in to coordinate the defense, excited about the vision that we have there and his ability to engage our players. So with continuity comes some change, Paul. And I like the combination of both and excited about Year 3.”