Michael Wilbon eviscerates Brian Kelly after firing at LSU: 'He sort of got what was coming'

Michael Wilbon had no sympathy for Brian Kelly after LSU fired the coach on Sunday. In Monday’s episode of Pardon the Interruption, the ESPN host seemed to take joy in the fact that Kelly was on his way out of Baton Rouge.

Wilbon claimed Kelly was “arrogant” when he made the move from Notre Dame ahead of the 2022 season, believing the Tigers would give him a better chance at a championship. It wasn’t just Kelly that Wilbon called out, however, but also the leadership at LSU.

“Part of this makes me smile a little bit,” Wilbon said on PTI. “Because he was so arrogant about it, about the transition. ‘I’m gonna leave Notre Dame and go some place I can win a national championship.’ Do you think the rest of us are fools? And he sort of got what was coming.

“Now, is it the right move (to fire him in-season)? Probably not. Because LSU, like so many other schools, are led by administrators and boosters who are so damn arrogant themselves. They think it’s their birthright. … Don’t tell me they can automatically, just because everybody else had won a championship in four years — (Ed) Orgeron, (Nick) Saban — don’t tell me they are automatically going to find the coach who is going to deliver a championship in a couple of years.”

Kelly took over in 2022 for Ed Orgeron, who was fired two seasons after leading LSU to a national championship. In the three-and-a-half seasons since, he compiled a 34-14 record, including 3-0 in bowl games.

However, he had yet to lead the Tigers to a College Football Playoff or SEC Championship, something that loomed over him heading into this season. After things went off the rails the past few weeks with the Tigers losing three of their past four games, the university leadership quickly pulled the trigger.

Kelly never finished below nine wins in any of the previous three seasons and had led LSU to a 5-3 record this year before being fired. While those numbers would be great at plenty of other programs, those in Baton Rouge aren’t willing to accept anything less than competing for a championship year in and year out.

As the search begins to find Brian Kelly’s replacement, sights are once again set high. But Wilbon warned that finding the right person for those lofty goals is harder than he implied administration seems to think it is.