Brian Kelly makes bad signing day even worse by whining about NIL

Brian Kelly really shouldn’t be complaining about high profile recruits flipping their commitments between schools ahead of and around the early signing day period. After all, you quite literally flipped your commitment from Notre Dame to LSU not too long ago, right?

During his signing day news conference, Kelly opted to whine about how the recruiting landscape has changed. 

"It's not just about finding the right fit ... it's about the most money I can get. That's unfortunate, but it's the world we live in,” Kelly said, per Shea Dixon’s X platform account, formerly known as Twitter.

Yes, name, image and likeness has changed how high school players are recruited and yes, the transfer portal has complicated recruiting as a whole. NIL has amplified all of that. But just like you, as a coach, can up and leave for money or a bigger brand, why can’t a player?

Welcome to the SEC, Kelly. You’re recruiting against the heavyweights. You can’t just rely on the LSU brand to get the top players. You have to cough up some money too. So quit complaining and figure out how to keep players from changing their mind during the signing period. 

Brian Kelly should focus less on complaining about the new age recruiting and adapt with the times

Kelly has two options, he can either adapt to the way that recruiting is nowadays, or do what several coaches have done and call it quits. If he feels he can’t compete with Michigan, which has a stockpile of Brinks trucks ready to send across the country, then maybe he needs to decide if he is the right coach for this recruiting era. 

I understand this is probably more frustration than anything because LSU didn’t quite have the season it hoped. After a game one loss to USC and three-straight losses to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida, he knows how important recruiting is to turn things around next year. 

But the nature of it is, the school that can offer the most money will probably get the recruit. I agree, I don’t like it, but that’s what it is now. While he did lose a few recruits, he does currently have the No. 8 ranked class, per 247sports. It's also the fifth best in the SEC.

LSU’s brand and being in the SEC isn’t enough. You have to dig into that NIL collective and booster money to get the game-changing players. Instead of complaining, Kelly should probably be pleading with the NIL collective to pool more money together for players. 

Ohio State spent upwards of $20 million to put together this year’s roster. Michigan is throwing around $10 million-plus, to flip players like Bryce Underwood. They didn’t complain, they just played the game. 

It’s time for Kelly to play the game too. Or his next NIL complaint will be about how it cost him his job.