Former LSU head coach Brian Kelly is consulting with a team in the Volunteer State, but it’s not with one of Tennessee’s two SEC programs.
According to a report from The Commercial Appeal’s Jonah Dylan on X, Kelly is “an unofficial consultant for Memphis this season.” Dylan also reports that new Memphis Football head coach Charles Huff has been seeking advice from multiple different former Power Four coaches, including Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, and Charlie Strong.
Memphis has gone 29-10 over its last three seasons, prompting Arkansas to hire head coach Ryan Silverfield away from the program to serve as its next head coach. The Tigers went out and hired Charles Huff, who previously served in the same position at Southern Miss. Huff has SEC experience, serving as Alabama’s associate head coach and running backs coach from 2019-2020 and Mississippi State’s associate head coach and running backs coach in 2018. He also spent one year at Vanderbilt as the quality control coach in 2011.
Huff’s ultimate desire is to move Memphis into a Power Four conference. According to Dylan, part of Huff’s move to seek advice from the aforementioned coaches is to help tweak the program to better prepare for that potential move down the road.
Dylan reiterates in his article for The Commercial Appeal that Kelly is not part of the Tigers’ staff and is not being paid. Huff told Dylan that “he’ll start checking in with Kelly more toward the end of the season when Memphis is focused on recruiting and building the 2027 roster in the transfer portal.” It does not sound like Kelly is consulting on the Xs and Os side of things for Huff’s program.
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LSU officially fired Brian Kelly on Oct. 26 this past season. Kelly had steered LSU to a 5-3 start and 2-3 mark within SEC play before his firing last season. The final blow was the 49-25 loss at home to the Aggies, but the Tigers also lost at Vanderbilt, 31-24, the week prior. LSU’s other loss under Kelly last year was to Ole Miss on the road, 24-19. Wins were over Clemson, Louisiana Tech, Florida, Southeastern Louisiana and South Carolina.
Kelly finished his tenure in Baton Rouge 34-14 (19-10 SEC). He won nine regular-season games in both 2022 and 2023, before only earning eight in 2024. His first season in 2022 did see his team make the SEC Championship game, which was a loss to Georgia.
Tennessee played Kelly’s Tigers team once in his tenure. The Vols went on the road in 2022 and dismantled LSU in a 40-13 win. Tiger fans exited the stadium quickly, leading to a total orange takeover of the stadium.
Kelly has a 297-109-2 overall record in his head coaching career, dating back to 1991 at Grand Valley State. He then went to Central Michigan in 2004 before landing at Cincinnati in 2006 and Notre Dame in 2010.
In Kelly’s place, the Tigers hired Lane Kiffin as their next head coach.
