GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Apparently, LSU football coach Brian Kelly did not watch ABC’s “Good Morning America” feature on his former player Greg Brooks Jr. last Monday close enough.
Kelly said comments by Brooks Jr.’s father, Greg Brooks Sr., in the piece “rattled” and “struck a nerve with” him and were “factually incorrect.”
Kelly, though, may not have realized the context of Brooks Sr.’s comments, as reported by Tiger Rag on Wednesday in the following story:
LSU FOOTBALL COACH BRIAN KELLY CALLS GREG BROOKS SR.’S COMMENTS INACCURATE
“You say you haven’t heard from anybody from the LSU coaching staff since October of 2023?,” Good Morning America host Michael Strahan asked Brooks Sr.
“Specifically, Brian Kelly,” Brooks Sr. said. “My son almost lost his life, coach. Where were you? Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say, you love the kid, man.”
Kelly was there, but he apparently was talking about the in-person contact he had with Brooks Jr. in September of 2023 immediately after emergency brain tumor extraction surgery on Brooks Jr. at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital that Sept. 15. Not from October on.
“It hit my heart,” Kelly said. “And it rattled me that somebody could possibly be so factually incorrect in stating that I was not part of Greg Brooks Jr.’s care and support. It was important for me to set the record clear as to my care and my love for Greg Jr. during this very difficult time. It is factually incorrect to state that I was not there by Greg’s side through this ordeal. I was there on multiple occasions. We had somebody from my staff that was there virtually every single day. We love Greg.”
GREG BROOKS JR. SUES LSU AND OUR LADY OF THE LAKE HOSPITAL FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE
But Brooks Sr. was talking about contact from anyone at LSU, particularly Kelly, since October of 2023 – not before. So, on Thursday, Brooks Jr.’s legal team responded with a statement to the Louisiana Radio Network, Tiger Rag and other media outlets.
“It was difficult for Greg Brooks Jr. to listen to LSU Coach Brian Kelly say he was by his side through this ordeal and then accuse his father of making a false statement when the reality is that Coach Kelly has not contacted Greg Jr. in over 16 months,” Brooks Jr. attorney Jeffrey Rosenblum of Rosenblum & Reisman in Memphis said Thursday, speaking for Brooks Jr.
“Neither Coach Kelly nor LSU has denied what Greg’s father said during the GMA interview – that Greg has not heard from Coach Kelly since October 2023, long before the lawsuit was filed (in August of 2024),” Rosenblum continued. “LSU and Coach Kelly cannot deny this because it is true. Ironically, it was Coach Kelly who made factually inaccurate statements in March of 2024 when he told the media that Greg was walking, which obviously was not true. Coach Kelly would have known that had he simply picked up the phone and called.”
BRIAN KELLY MAKES IT CLEAR HE HAS CALLED AND VISITED COLIN HURLEY AND FAMILY
Brooks Jr. is re-learning how to talk, walk and read after the surgery and was shown walking with assistance in the GMA piece. But Rosenblum maintains he was not walking at the time Kelly said he was.
The surgery removed the cancer but has left Brooks Jr. disabled. The LSU medical team misdiagnosed Brooks Jr., according to the lawsuit, as having Vertigo in August of 2023, then took several time-critical weeks to get him to a specialist for an MRI. That test finally revealed what the problem was – a cancerous brain tumor. But not until Sept. 14. That and the alleged botched surgery by Our Lady of the Lake surgeon Brandon Gaynor are at the crux of the lawsuit.
Kelly is named in the lawsuit as is the LSU Board of Supervisors as overseers, but the allegations against those two entities are minor, compared to those against LSU football head athletic trainer Owen Stanley and LSU football team doctors Stephen Etheridge, Vincent Shaw and Tony Johnson II for the alleged misdiagnosis and negligent and lackadaisical care.
LSU’s medical personnel repeatedly misdiagnosed Brooks Jr.’s condition as Vertigo after he vomited and experienced dizziness at a practice in August of 2023, the lawsuit states and adds that LSU’s medical team also cleared him to continue practicing, and he was allowed to play in LSU’s first two games that season.
After five weeks of showing symptoms of neurological disorders and after Brooks Jr. played in the two games, LSU finally scheduled him with a specialist on Sept. 13, 2023, and he had an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging test) on Sept. 14, the lawsuit says. And LSU, which is partnered with the Lake, rushed Brooks Jr. into emergency surgery at the Lake on Sept. 15, according to the suit.
Once in the “emergent surgery, Greg suffered multiple strokes due to acts of malpractice, which are being addressed in a medical review panel proceeding,” the lawsuit states. “Greg sustained severe and permanent injuries during the surgery and was transferred to Memphis (St. Jude’s Hospital) in October of 2023.”
But Brooks Sr. seemed to take aim at Kelly more than the doctors and trainers in the GMA piece.
“Greg Jr. looks forward to having his day in court, where the truth will come to light, and in the meantime, he will be focusing on his health and recovery,” Rosenblum said to conclude his statement.
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