Brian Kelly talks potential defensive coaching changes

It's no secret that the LSU defense was bad this year, and it's even less of a secret that the LSU fans want to see some type of coaching change on the defensive side of the ball.

Brian Kelly has said multiple times that at the end of the season, he will sit down and evaluate the whole coaching staff, starting with himself. With the regular season over, he and the staff have been conducting exit interviews with the players and have now shifted their focus to recruiting before beginning staff evaluations next week.

Kelly was asked about the evaluation process and more specifically about the defensive coaching staff. He had a very straight to the point answer, saying his defense didn't live up to the LSU standard and nobody should be happy with the product they put on the field.

"9-3...we're here to win championships. Our defense did not play to the level that our standard is set at. Nobody is happy, including everybody on the defensive side and the head football coach that we didn't play the kind of defense necessary. I'm not happy about it, nobody is happy about it, our fans shouldn't be happy about it. We have to do things to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Brian Kelly

One of the biggest criticisms that Kelly received during the year was that he didn't act quick enough to attempt to save the defense this season. While from the outside looking in, it may have seemed like they did very little to fix things this year, but Kelly said they began looking at and addressing the defensive struggles as early as the Ole Miss game.

"To say that we're just addressing it now is just not correct. We began addressing it after the Mississippi game. That's when addressing our defensive short comings began. This process has been ongoing, it's not like all of a sudden, hey by the way you've got to fix the defense. This has been ongoing and this process has been one where we feel the pain of everybody, because we feel it too. It cannot be the kind of defensive performance we had this year, it's got to be better, and it will be better."

Brian Kelly

Fans can be quick to judge players and coaches, and that was quite evident with how quickly fans wanted Matt House fired. I'm not saying they were wrong, but the higher ups usually have more patience and wait for the right time to make a big coaching change.

Kelly talked about how hard it is to change coaches, especially a coordinator, in the middle of the season. During his time at Notre Dame, he fired his defensive coordinator just three games into the season because he was getting in his way. He said it wasn't an easy decision, and he's not afraid to make those decisions, but if it was easy to replace a coordinator midseason, this team would be in a much different place right now.

"Look, here's what I can tell you. I was three games into a season in 2016 at Notre Dame, I had to fire my defensive coordinator. He was in my way. Those aren't easy decision. I'm not afraid to make those decision and I'm going to do what's best for LSU's football program and the pursuit of a national championship. I'm going to do it informed, I'm going to do what's best for the program, because it's involving players, it's involving coaches, it's involving all things as it realtes to being better as a defense. It's not on one person, it's collective, so if it was that easy, we would've been in a different place. Like I said, I went three games into the season and made a change in the leadership. If it was that easy, those decisions would be a lot easier."

Brian Kelly

While Coach Kelly didn't give too much away in terms of if they'll make a coaching change, he made it very obvious that if he thinks it's the best thing for the program, he'll do it, no matter how hard of a choice it is personally.

If it were up to most LSU fans Matt House would have been fired after the Ole Miss game if it was their choice, but Kelly has been doing this a long time and knows what it's like to replace a coordinator midseason. Like he said, if it was easy to replace a coordinator midseason, this team would be in a much different place than they are right now.