Kelly's straight-shooter style plays well in his first SEC Media Days

ATLANTA – There’s a curiosity when new SEC head football coaches attend their initial league media days.

For those who have never been a head coach, having to deal with 1,000 plus media members asking question after question for three hours is unlike anything they’ve ever dealt with in their careers.

And when a newbie speaks in the main media room filled with several hundred writers, well, first impressions matter.

Have you ever heard the sped-up voice at the end of a car commercial talking about tax, title, license, etc? That was new Florida coach Ron Zook at his first SEC Media Day in 2002 when he replaced the legendary Steve Spurrier.

Zook talked so fast and breathlessly you thought his head would explode. He coached the same way and was fired effective at the end of his third season.

The next year in 2003, former Alabama quarterback Mike Shula looked like a deer in headlights in his first SEC Media Days as the Crimson Tide’s head coach. He lasted four seasons before Alabama canned him and hired a massive upgrade named Nick Saban.

Sometimes, a first-timer goes the humor route. New Vandy coach Robbie Caldwell’s approach at his first and only SEC Media Day in 2010 was recalling his first paying job as a member of an inseminating crew at a turkey farm.

“It fertilizes the egg so they produce a better turkey in the hatchery,” Caldwell said. “It's an interesting process. I'd be glad to show you sometime.”

New LSU coach Brian Kelly talked a different turkey Monday at his first SEC Media Days here at the College Football Hall of Fame.. He didn’t babble a million miles an hour. He wasn’t wide-eyed.

The former Notre Dame field boss was factual with a touch of humor. He didn’t dodge any questions. He came off as exactly what he is – a Sabanesque-polished, poised veteran winning coach who's a confident, well-prepared masterful communicator.

Some of my media brethren seemed surprised, especially when Kelly poked fun at himself such as an early gaffe of trying a homeboy Southern accent emphasizing the word “fah-muh-lee” speaking at halftime of an LSU basketball game shotly after he was hired.

“Understand now, I have a Boston, Midwestern, Louisiana accent now,” he said with a smile and a laugh Monday . “It's three dialects into one. It's no longer fah-muh-lee, I got all kinds of stuff to throw at you. Just be ready.”

The biggest curiosity about Kelly from the SEC and national media is how a guy from Massachusetts who has spent his entire 43-year football life as a player (four years) and a college coach (39 years including 32 as a head coach) in northern cold weather venues would be a “fit” in the South where college football is a 365 days a year way-of-life.

It's an obvious but lazy question when you research and discover that the head coach of 10 of the 13 national championships won by five SEC different schools starting with West Virginia-native Saban at LSU in 2003 wasn’t southern born and bred.

“I think `fit' is about the ability to run a program at the highest level,” Kelly said. “I've done it for 32 years. I've had success at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Central Michigan wherever I've been. Running a program and then player development, I think, are the most important things.

“I don't think that (fit) needs to be geographical in a sense. I've gotten to love where I'm at in Baton Rouge. I love the people. They love football. They love family. They love food. That fits me really well. I guess I should have been in the South all along.”

Ten of the 16 questions Kelly fielded Monday in his 30-minute Q and A in the main media room were tilted toward why he took the LSU job, his method for earning his players trust, learning how to recruit the entire state of Louisiana and thoughts on the Tigers’ opening game opponent Florida State since Kelly was 3-2 vs. FSU as Notre Dame’s head coach.

Kelly didn't even flinch or break stride when he was asked by an Alabama-based writer if Notre Dame's two lopsided losses in the CFP playoffs to Alabama played into Kelly's decision to leave Notre Dame for LSU.

Kelly, with poker face restraint, replied, "That wasn't part of my decision-making. Those were really good teams. They both won the national championship. I thought we played Alabama better than anybody in that last playoff. Their talent was unbelievable on the offensive side of the ball that year. So that wasn't like, I'm taking the LSU job, Alabama is so much better than us. That was not part of the process for me."

LSU’s three players at SEC Media Days – wide receiver Jack Bech, middle linebacker Mike Jones and defensive end BJ Ojulari – also fielded more questions about Kelly than the Tigers’ actual personnel.

“Obviously, (previous LSU head) Coach (Ed) Orgeron and Coach Kelly are two very different styles of coaches,” Bech said. “Coach Orgeron motivated and got the team's blood pumping. Coach Kelly's work (is) as a CEO, moves chess pieces, very strategic in everything he does and knows what he wants to know and when he wants it.”

Jones, who transferred to LSU last season from Clemson, was effusive in praising Kelly for his immediate effect during winter workouts and spring practice.

“Coach Kelly has increased our focus accountability and attention to details,” Jones said. “We were very detailed last year and throughout my whole college career, but I haven’t seen it done to this closer of a perspective.

“We do a wellness questionnaire every day after workouts or practice, you get your vitamins every day, you check in for your meals every day, you check in with your weight every day. And although like those may seem like a lot of things, it builds trust, it builds accountability.

“I now know all the guys we're going to be playing with I can trust whenever it (games) start because I've trusted them every single day while we've been doing this for months and months.”

Jones has already played under two head coaches – Clemson’ Dabo Swinney and Orgeron – who have won national championships.

“One thing that I've learned is I really believe all the good teams do things a certain way,” Jones said. "Coach Kelly has a lot of those traits. Look at his track record. You know that man he's a winner. That's one thing he is for sure.

“When I think about where I see LSU in the next 5 or 10 years, I don't think they could have hired anybody else better for a top-tier program like LSU should be and can be.”