Joel Klatt hammers Brian Kelly over early LSU 'controversy'

In his first days as the LSU head coach, Brian Kelly ran into a road bump over his use of a southern accent while speaking to the Tiger faithful. He received widespread criticism for the blunder, and Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt is the latest to offer his opinion.

“It was terrible,” Klatt said Wednesday on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.” “It was painful. Even though she’s from the South, it’s like Reese Witherspoon’s southern accent.”

The incident occurred at halftime of an Ohio State-LSU basketball game. The Massachusetts native, who has coached exclusively in the Northeast and Midwest, added a Southern drawl to several of the words in his speech.

“Brian what are you doing, man? Be authentic,” Klatt added. “Authenticity is the greatest currency that a head coach can have with his team or future team. That’s not authentic. You can’t do that.”

It is clear Kelly may have some work to do in the authenticity category after this episode, but his resume certainly cannot be questioned. Kelly wins wherever he goes. The former Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Central Michigan coach boasts a .728 lifetime FBS winning percentage and led the Irish to five straight 10-win seasons for the first time in school history.

Klatt supportive of taking LSU gig

While Klatt was not a fan of the fake accent, he was in favor of Kelly deciding to make the move from South Bend to Baton Rouge. Many believe there had to be a better way for Kelly to depart from South Bend, but Klatt believes that it’s just the nature of the beast.

“He’s a great coach. I’ll go in the great category — Brian Kelly is a great coach. Culturally, it’s a completely different environment. Notre Dame and LSU. Folks, does it really matter when somebody puts someone puts one hundred million dollars in-front of you? I don’t think it does,” Klatt stated on Cowherd’s show last week. “I think he was one hundred percent honest with everyone in the room when he said listen, unless there’s a fairy godmother and my wife and I have a conversation about some blank check, I’m going to be at Notre Dame. That wasn’t a lie. The fairy godmother happened to be wearing purple and yellow. 

“Folks, everyone of us is for sale. You may not want to hear that, but it’s true. It’s just the nature of it. If you get that contract, you’re moving too.”

On3’s Stephen Samra contributed to this report.