Brian Kelly after LSU moves ever closer to the television studio: CBS could be his new big stage
Brian Kelly, one of the most recognizable coaches in American college football over the past three decades, could enter the 2026 season in the role of a television analyst, rather than on the sideline. According to a Front Office Sports report that Saturday Down South relayed on June 24, 2026, the former Notre Dame and LSU coach is expected to appear on CBS broadcasts, most likely as part of a three-person commentary team for Mountain West Conference games. The same report states that Kelly is also expected to participate in the program Inside College Football on CBS Sports Network. By the conclusion of this text, CBS Sports had not published a separate official statement confirming all details of the engagement, so his television job is, for now, being described as a move reported by American sports media citing sources close to the situation.
For Kelly, that would be an important turn after a turbulent parting with LSU, the program from Baton Rouge that brought him from Notre Dame at the end of 2021 as one of the most expensive and most ambitious coaching additions in the history of college sports. LSU officially announced at the time that Kelly was signing a ten-year contract worth 95 million dollars, with additional bonuses, and expectations were directly tied to competing for titles in the SEC and the national championship. Four seasons later, the same program announced that it was parting ways with him after a loss to Texas A&M and a 5-3 record in the 2025 season, with then-athletic director Scott Woodward explaining that the results had not developed at the level LSU requires. Kelly, according to LSU’s official data, finished in Baton Rouge with a 34-14 record, including 19-10 in the SEC, three bowl victories and an appearance in the 2022 SEC final.
The television job is not just a pause between two coaching engagements
A possible move into CBS’s studio should not be viewed only as a temporary media appearance by a well-known coaching name. Kelly had already appeared on CBS Sports Network in April 2026 on the program Inside College Football, where he commented on the upcoming NFL draft and evaluated college football players with Brent Stover, Beanie Wells and Kevin Carter. On3 reported at the time that this was his first major television appearance after leaving LSU and that it was still not clear whether it was a permanent arrangement. Two months later, reports about a role on broadcasts of Mountain West games show that the appearance probably turned into a more serious form of cooperation.
Such a development has both professional and financial logic. Kelly is a coach with long experience in player evaluation, program building and working with quarterbacks, which are topics that television networks regularly seek from former coaches in studio and commentary formats. His arrival on Mountain West broadcasts could bring CBS a familiar name in a season in which the conference finds itself in a changed media and competitive environment. According to a Mountain West statement from May 2026, the broadcast package for the 2026 football season includes 62 games, of which 41 will be on national television; CBS Sports Network will carry 14 matchups, and CBS Television Network one game. CBS Sports previously reported that the conference’s new media agreement guarantees it a long-term presence on CBS platforms through the 2031/2032 season, which explains why the network is building a broader commentary and analytical lineup.
Kelly’s profile is, at the same time, different from that of a classic television commentator. He is not merely a former coach with one notable job in his career, but a man who led Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and LSU, and who at several levels of college football built programs that won conference or national titles. Notre Dame’s official profile states that he won two NCAA Division II titles with Grand Valley State, while Cincinnati under him finished the 2009 regular season with a 12-0 record and secured a BCS appearance. At Notre Dame he was best known for stabilizing the program and for appearances in the College Football Playoff era, and he arrived at LSU precisely because of the belief that he could transfer that model into the SEC’s most demanding environment.
LSU’s split opened a legal and financial dispute
The financial background of Kelly’s new job is especially important because his departure from LSU was connected with one of the largest coaching buyouts in the history of college football. Front Office Sports reported that LSU agreed to pay Kelly a 54-million-dollar buyout after a dispute was resolved over whether he had been fired without cause. According to the same report, the contract contained an offset clause and a duty to seek comparable employment, meaning that Kelly had to actively look for a new job, and any new salary could reduce the amount LSU has to pay. In that sense, the media role is not only a way for him to remain close to the game, but also part of the broader contractual framework accompanying his split with the program.
LSU announced on October 26, 2025, that it was parting ways with Kelly immediately, and at that moment the terms of the split were still being negotiated. The official announcement stated that the Tigers had fallen to 5-3 on the season and 2-3 in the SEC after a home loss to third-ranked Texas A&M. Woodward said at the time that Kelly had been brought in with the hope that he would lead LSU toward multiple SEC and national titles, but that success at the required level had not materialized. Frank Wilson, the assistant coach in charge of running backs and associate head coach, was named interim coach through the end of the season.
What followed showed how complex and costly modern coaching contracts in top-level college football have become. According to Front Office Sports, Kelly’s buyout was supposed to be paid in monthly installments, and the dispute became even more heated when the question arose of the formal status of his dismissal and the possibility that LSU might try to reduce or avoid part of the obligation. Kelly’s legal side sought confirmation that it was a termination without cause, and reports from American media state that, in the end, the view prevailed that he was entitled to the full contractual buyout, with the obligation to reasonably and continuously seek a new job. That is precisely why every media appearance of his, including CBS, is viewed through the lens of the contractual clause as well, and not only as a personal choice after being fired.
Why CBS benefits from a coach with Kelly’s experience
For a television network, Kelly brings a combination of authority, recognizability and fresh experience from the very top of college sports. He recently worked in the SEC, a conference that over the past two decades has often been the benchmark for national ambitions, but before that he led Notre Dame for more than a decade, one of the globally best-known programs in American college football. Such a career enables him to comment on different aspects of the game: recruiting, player development, adapting offensive systems, working with the transfer portal, the pressure of major programs and the difference between fan expectations and the reality of building a team.
Such a voice is especially useful to CBS at a time when college football is changing strongly. The expansion of the playoff, new systems of athlete compensation, rules tied to players’ name, image and likeness, and constant movement through the transfer portal have changed the job of a coach. In a conversation carried by CBS Sports, Kelly spoke precisely about how, after LSU, he reflected on changes in the sport and on the need to create stronger organizational structures within programs. Even if viewers do not agree with his coaching decisions or the way he finished in Baton Rouge, his insider experience can offer context that a standard broadcast often lacks.
In addition, the television studio gives former coaches space to rehabilitate their public image. In American college sports, it is not unusual for a coach after being fired to spend a season or two as an analyst, remain visible, comment on the game without the direct pressure of results and, in the meantime, wait for a new opportunity on the market. For Kelly, that is particularly important because LSU was his first major job that ended in dismissal, rather than a voluntary move toward a bigger program. His reputation still includes a long string of victories, but it is now burdened by the question of why the major project in Baton Rouge did not reach the level of a national title.
The results at LSU were good, but not enough for Baton Rouge’s standard
Kelly’s case shows how high the bar is at programs such as LSU. Statistically speaking, a 34-14 record, three bowl victories and winning the SEC West in 2022 are not results that would be considered a failure at most programs. In its official announcement of the split, LSU also recalled that Kelly’s tenure included the 2023 season with Jayden Daniels, the Heisman Trophy winner and later the second pick of the NFL draft. But for LSU, a program that from 2003 to 2019 won three national titles under three different coaches, success is measured differently. When Kelly was brought from Notre Dame in 2021, the expectation was not merely to stabilize the team, but to re-enter the fight for the top of the College Football Playoff.
The problem for Kelly was that, after the first wave of optimism, all the elements needed for a title did not come together. The defense did not become dominant at the level expected of LSU, the offense lost continuity after the departures of key players and changes on the coaching staff, and losses in high-profile games strengthened the impression that the program was not progressing fast enough. CBS Sports stated in an analysis after his departure that the pressure was growing because LSU did not look like a team on a clear path toward its first playoff appearance after the national title from the 2019 season. Kelly, in his own reflection, according to the CBS Sports article, admitted that the fundamental reason for the firing was an insufficient number of wins, although at the same time he emphasized specific successes he achieved in Baton Rouge.
In that gap between good results and extreme expectations lies the core of Kelly’s story. He did not leave as a coach who did not know how to win, but as a coach who, in a specific environment, did not win quickly enough and highly enough. That is important context for his possible television role because viewers will not be listening only to a former coach, but also to a person who recently went through one of the most expensive and most exposed separations in college sports. His analyses of games, coaching decisions and program management will therefore inevitably be read through the prism of what happened at LSU.
Mountain West as a new stage for a famous coaching name
If the reports are confirmed, Kelly will not immediately end up on CBS’s most visible Saturday night broadcast, but is expected to work Mountain West games, a conference that in 2026 is going through a new phase after changes in membership and media agreements. Mountain West announced in May that its 2026 season would open with national broadcasts already in Week Zero, including North Dakota State’s FBS debut against Jacksonville State on CBS Sports Network. The conference also announced that it would have national broadcasts in 11 of the season’s 14 weeks, giving it broader visibility at a time when the battle for media space among college conferences is intensifying further.
For Kelly, such a role could be useful precisely because it enables a return to the rhythm of weekly game preparation, but without the burden of running a program. An analyst on a broadcast has to quickly recognize patterns, explain tactical adjustments and bring viewers closer to the decisions being made in real time. That is an area in which a former head coach with Kelly’s experience can have an advantage, especially in games of a conference whose programs often rely on player development, tactical discipline and finding undervalued talent. At the same time, a less glamorous but stable platform can give him space to gradually get used to the television format.
The question remains open whether television is a long-term career change for Kelly or a stage before a possible return to coaching. American media had already reported that after LSU he remained connected to football through advisory and media formats, and his contractual obligation to look for work further encourages assumptions that he will consider different possibilities. Still, a return to the sideline at the level at which he is used to working will depend on how potential employers evaluate his LSU tenure, his adaptation to the new era of college sports and his ability to rebuild trust in a major program.
The bigger picture: college football is becoming more expensive, and media are becoming more important
Kelly’s story goes beyond the personal career of one coach. It shows how American college football has turned into an ecosystem in which sporting decisions, contracts, television rights and public perception are constantly intertwined. LSU paid an enormous amount in 2021 to bring in a coach with a winner’s reputation, then decided in 2025 that the results were not good enough, and then faced a buyout of tens of millions of dollars. CBS, on the other hand, can now get an analyst whose name attracts attention by itself and whose recent experiences open topics that interest viewers beyond the score of the games themselves.
For a global audience that does not follow every nuance of college football in the United States on a daily basis, Brian Kelly’s case illustrates the level of professionalization of a sport that formally remains collegiate. Coaching contracts reach amounts comparable to professional leagues, conferences negotiate multi-year media packages, and former coaches become part of the television product that further shapes the public understanding of the game. Kelly’s possible entry into CBS’s commentary lineup is therefore not just news about a new job. It is the continuation of one of the more striking coaching stories of recent years and a reminder that, in modern college football, leaving the sideline does not necessarily mean leaving the center of the stage.
Sources:
- Saturday Down South – report on Brian Kelly’s possible engagement at CBS and role on broadcasts of Mountain West games (link)
- On3 – report on Kelly’s appearance on Inside College Football on CBS Sports Network and the context of his LSU buyout (link)
- LSU Athletics – official announcement about the split between LSU and Brian Kelly on October 26, 2025, and data on his record and results at LSU (link)
- Front Office Sports – report on the 54-million-dollar buyout, the legal resolution and the clause on the obligation to seek new employment (link)
- LSU Athletics – official 2021 announcement about Kelly’s arrival at LSU and the ten-year contract worth 95 million dollars (link)
- Mountain West Conference – official announcement of the television broadcast package for the 2026 football season (link)
- CBS Sports – analysis of Kelly’s departure from LSU, his statements after being fired and the broader coaching context (link)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish – official coaching profile of Brian Kelly with an overview of his earlier career and results before LSU (link)