Former LSU Tigers head football coach Brian Kelly is returning to college football, but it won’t be on the sideline.
According to Front Office Sports, he is joining CBS Sports as a college football analyst for the 2026 season and will mostly call Mountain West games.
TOP NEWS
Kelly already worked with the network during this year’s NFL draft coverage and will now be a mainstay next season. In addition to being a color commentator, he will also be an analyst on the CBSSN show, Inside College Football.
The 64-year-old began his head coaching career at Central Michigan in 2004 before joining Cincinnati in 2006. After three full seasons with the Bearcats, he became the head coach of Notre Dame in 2010.
He led the Fighting Irish to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2020 and an 11-1 record the following year.
After 12 seasons with Notre Dame, he became the head coach at LSU in 2022. He had back-to-back 10-win seasons to get started, but a 14-7 record over the next season and a half led to his firing in 2025.
Kelly’s new deal with CBS is reportedly for just one year and he previously expressed a desire to coach again in the future.
“I still want to make a difference,” he said. “All the young men that have been under my charge over 35 years, I feel like I have a lot still to give. Even with all this money in college football, they still need mentorship, still need development.”
“Money aside, I have a lot to give. And my motivation is to want to get back to building relationships and successful programs in college football.”
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
