LSU's Brian Kelly named to Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List
LSU’s Brian Kelly was named Monday to the preseason watch list for the 2025 Dodd Trophy for the nation’s best college football coach.
Kelly is preparing for his upcoming fourth season leading the Tigers, with a combined 29-11 record thus far during his tenure in Baton Rouge.
After back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, LSU slipped to 9-4 this past fall. But the program enters 2025 with high expectations around a strong returning core and slew of talented additions this offseason through its recruiting of both the transfer portal and the high school ranks.
The 26-man list released by the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl included representatives for each of the Power Four conferences, as well as the American and Mountain West and an independent.
Coaches named to this year’s preseason watch list have combined for five national championships, 36 FBS conference titles and secured 2,145 wins throughout their careers.
The SEC led all conferences with eight coaches included, followed by the Big Ten and Big 12 with five each.
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Kelly, who received the trophy in 2018 during his tenure at Notre Dame, was among three previous winners included on this year’s watch list, along with Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (2011) and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman (2024).
The award, celebrating its 50th anniversary this season, is named for legendary Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd, a College Football Hall-of-Famer for whom the Yellow Jackets’ stadium is named.
According to the foundation’s release, “the Dodd Trophy celebrates the head coach of a team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity – the three pillars of legendary coach Bobby Dodd’s coaching philosophy.”
The release also stated that the preseason watch list takes into consideration each program’s Academic Progress Rate (APR), Graduation Success Rate (GSR), commitment to service and charity in the community and projected success for 2025 — and that all coaches named to this year’s list were required to have a program APR above the national average of 969.
