As he preps for his junior season as head coach at LSU, Brian Keith Kelly is affectionately called BK by those who lavish the lord of Lakeshore Drive with plaudits. Perhaps this is wishful thinking. The last college coach to get the BK treatment was Bob Knight, who collected three national basketball titles at Indiana.
It is unfair to compare LSU’s BK with the bombastic bully from Bloomington, a boorish and obese creature devoid of personal discipline. But this is a pivotal year for LSU’s svelte, sophisticated soon to be 63-year-old leader, who is the oldest male head coach of any sport in school history.
It is time for LSU’s BK to replicate what Les Miles and Ed Orgeron accomplished in their third full seasons at the helm of the Tigers. Miles at age 54 in 2007 and Orgeron at 58 in 2019 won national championships for the Purple and Gold. Anything short of ultimate victory for Kelly at the same stage at Tiger Stadium is unacceptable to a restless and demanding fan base that has savored a trio of NCAA football titles in the last 21 seasons.
Kelly is the first LSU coach to earn a nine-figure contract. As stated in Luke 12:48: “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask more.”
For Kelly to adhere to the biblical admonition and equal the achievements of Miles, Orgeron and Nick Saban who won it all for LSU at age 52 in 2003, BK must secure a national championship by the close of his fourth season at LSU. That gives him 17 months to reach a glorious climax or face the wrath of high expectations. Discounting interim coaches, seven of the last nine LSU football gurus have been fired. Gone were Charles McClendon, Jerry Stovall, Mike Archer, Curley Hallman, Gerry DiNardo, Miles and Orgeron. Most were good most of the time. Good doesn’t cut it in Baton Rouge any longer.
The only head football coaches to leave LSU unscathed since Tiger Rag’s inception in 1978 are Nick Saban, who left TigerTown in 2005 for the Miami Dolphins and Bill Arnsparger, who defected to Florida in 1986 to become the Gators’ athletic director.
Kelly is a solid mentor with a track record of success at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame. At LSU, it is a demand to conquer all obstacles and reign supreme or else.
After 27 games at LSU, Kelly’s record measures up fine with his four most recent predecessors.
Here is a look at the stock of recent LSU coaches after their first 27 assignments.
Les Miles 2005-2008: 23-4
Brian Kelly 2022-2023 20-7
Ed Orgeron 2016-2018 20-7
Gerry DiNardo 1995-1997: 19-7-1
Nick Saban 2000-2003: 19-8
The major distinction between Kelly and Saban is that Nick inherited a program that had staggered to an overall record of 58-66-1 between 1989-99 with zero conference or national championships and eight losing seasons in the previous eleven.
BK inherited a program that from 2011-21 was 103-38 with two conference titles and the 2019 national crown.
Kelly is paid handsomely to win national championships. There is no other fallback at LSU. The days of ten wins and a bowl game being satisfactory are long gone. The anticipation from this space is that the man from Everett, Massachusetts will bask in the “bright lights” he predicted when he was hired. This is the moment for LSU to return to the throne room where the Tigers ruled the land in 2003, 2007 and 2019.
Don’t count out BK in his quest to keep up with Miles and Orgeron in year three at Death Valley.
Gone is Pat Williams, NBA Icon and Great American
On July 17, Pat Williams died. He was an uncommon man with a common name. Williams was an NBA executive for 51 seasons and is noted for trading Pete Maravich from the Atlanta Hawks to the New Orleans Jazz in 1974 and for drafting Shaquille O’Neal in 1992 when Williams was general manager for the Orlando Magic.
Pat Williams was a frequent radio guest of this columnist and led a remarkable life. He read a book a week, authored more than 100 books of his own, completed 13 Boston Marathons and was father to 19 children.
His death at 84 was met with a description from the New York Times that Williams was “called the P.T. Barnum of professional basketball.” He was an outstanding athlete at Wake Forest and played baseball in the Phillies organization before his front-office career started in the minor leagues.
He hit the big time in Chicago where migrated to basketball and developed the Bulls of Bob Love and Jerry Sloan into a power and attracted fans by once personally wrestling a trained bear. Williams moved to the 76ers and coaxed owner Fitz Dixon to acquire Julius Erving for a remarkable $6 million in 1976. Dixon asked Williams; “Who is Julius Erving?” Pat answered: “He’s the Babe Ruth of basketball.”
Dr. J. led Philadelphia to the NBA title in 1983 and the Sixers finished second in the league three other times during the tenure of Williams, who moved to Florida to direct the effort to land an expansion team in Orlando. The Magic reached the finals in 1995, losing to Houston and then losing Shaq to the Lakers.
“He was an unrestricted free agent at 24,” Williams told the New York Times. “Not long after, the league changed the rule with a provision to match an offer on the second contract. Too late for us.”
Williams had four children with his first wife, then they adopted 14 others from South Korea, Romania, Brazil and the Philippines with an annual food bill in 1993 of $80,000.
Williams and his first wife Jill divorced in 1996 and he remarried Ruth Hanchey who had one child. Ruth and 19 children survive one of the most prolific people ever.
Williams battled cancer gamely for the last 13 years, but this man of immense faith kept charging until the end with a final expression for us to absorb. “When you stop setting long-range goals, that’s when the dying begins.”
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