The college football coaching carousel has gone absolutely bonkers over the last couple of days. If Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma for USC was a big shock, then Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU was an even bigger one.
It seemed as if everything happened in a flash with Kelly's decision to leave South Bend for Baton Rouge. A report emerged late Monday afternoon saying LSU was making a big push for Kelly, and then hours later it was confirmed that he would be heading there.
It seems as if Fighting Irish players and coaching staff were caught rather off guard by the reports coming across social media, with Kelly essentially breaking up with them over text:
It will surprise nobody that LSU offered Kelly an ungodly amount of money to leave Notre Dame. The Athletic's Matt Fortuna reported an offer of 10 years and $100 million with incentives, but CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd said he's hearing the salary will be in the $15 million a year range. There's obviously a notable gap there, but regardless, Kelly is getting a whole lot of cash to make this move.
Although, it's not the $250 million he once claimed he would need to leave South Bend:
What makes all this even crazier is Notre Dame is still alive for a spot in the College Football Playoff. If some things break right, the Irish could be playing for a national title in just over a month. But that didn't stop Kelly from bailing in order to replace Ed Orgeron, who's out at LSU after winning the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship just two seasons ago with Joe Burrow at the helm.
These big coaching moves have sparked a lot of conversation about the state of college football and some of the craziness going on with these hires. It's like the Wild West out there.