Brian Kelly may never land a job as good as Notre Dame again, but he's still a big name with the potential to grab a big-time gig somewhere.
Nov 27, 2021; Stanford, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly walks on the field during the second quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium.
Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn ImagesThat's not in reference to his 2026 role as anat Memphis, who has hosted the likes of fellow former Power Conference coaches like Jimbo Fisher and Charlie Strong. Unlike those two coaches, however, the recent LSU head man should get another gig as a Power Conference coach. Take a closer look at the potential post-2026 market, and you'll see a handful of places where Kelly would make sense.
Five Jobs That Could Make Sense for Former Irish Head Coach Brian Kelly Louisiana State University Head Coach Brian Kelly during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. Saturday, August 30, 2025. | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network South Carolina / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesWho says you can't go home?
Shoot, the Big 12 already has multiple reunion head coaches in Scott Frost and Rich Rodriguez , who might've burned a bridge by leaving early for the bowl game, but were welcomed back the next time around. Kelly landing at the place that he helped put on the national stage with a 34-6 record and a trio of 10-win seasons would be a fun homecoming. The Bearcats have struggled in their transition to the Big 12.
In three years under Scott Satterfield, they're 9-18 in Big 12 play, and they lost five consecutive games to close the 2025 season. Despite another multi-win improvement, both coordinators were fired, and Brendan Sorsby hit the open market. Vibes are low for Satterfield, who'll have an affordable 7-figure buyout at season's end. Cincinnati going back to a coach who already had a ton of success there, like Kelly or even Luke Fickell could be worth a flier.
You can close your eyes and picture Kelly back in Massachusetts, where he was born and raised. Having already coached on the other side of The Holy War — Kelly was 7-0 in those matchups at Notre Dame — he would understand how to navigate some of those potential limitations. He's also got plenty of familiarity coaching against the extremely winnable ACC, where BC hasn't had a winning season in conference play in 17 years.
Bill O'Brien was only responsible for two of those years, but things are trending in the wrong direction after he needed aO'Brien's 2-10 season has him firmly on the hot seat. Perhaps hiring a coach nearly a decade older than O'Brien wouldn't necessarily be met with unanimous support behind the scenes, but hiring someone with 13 AP Top 25 finishes isn't typically the type of candidate that BC gets the chance to hire. Well, a couple of things.
The new Ryan Field this fall. Northwestern could have a ton of juice. The issue is that the schedule is extremely back-loaded, with five games to close the season in which the Wildcats could be an underdog. Going 5-7 with a five-game losing streak to end the season would hurt that juice, and perhaps prompt a change to keep those season ticket-holders/boosters happy.
Having an athletic director in Mark Jackson who didn't initially hire Braun in the wake of the Pat Fitzgerald scandal could factor into that. Enter Kelly, AKA the guy who spent 12 years at the program that's actually most popular in Chicago, not Northwestern.
"Chicago's Big Ten team" hiring Kelly would be an ideal match. Someone who has familiarity with recruiting that region and leading a program with high academic standards would understand those dynamics. Kelly would be the type of splashy hire that would allow Northwestern to regain any potential lost momentum. Big Ten jobs are hard to come by, and despite what some casual college football fans might tell you, you can do a whole lot worse than Maryland.
Recruiting the DMV and getting the Kevin Plank backing would be attractive for a new coach in this era. Mike Locksley enters Year 8 all over hot seat lists after a pair of 1-8 showings in Big Ten play. As mentioned with the aforementioned O'Brien, there could be some resistance with replacing a 50-something coach with a 60-something coach. Still, though.
You could argue that Maryland has never had a clean hiring process since it joined the Big Ten . Making a real splash at a place that's still seen as basketball-first could appeal to those decision-makers. If I'm predicting today, he's not getting fired in Year 3 because Syracuse will bounce back after a seven-win regression in 2025.
Having said that, it's hard to ignore how ugly things got once the Steve Angeli injury happened. Syracuse endured a 3-9 season that closed on an eight-game losing streak and a 34-12 home loss to 2-10 Boston College in front of a sparse home crowd in the regular-season finale. Missing a bowl game again could be curtains for Brown, who has a different boss now than when he was hired. Don't discount that.
As mentioned with Northwestern, a new athletic director who wants to make a statement hire could be attracted to a candidate like Kelly. We know about Kelly's Northeast roots, as well as his 45-11 mark vs. ACC competition at Notre Dame. If another down year is in store for Brown, who was hired as a first-time head coach in 2024, replacing him with what would be the active leader in college football wins wouldn't be far-fetched. Loading recommendations...
Please wait while we load personalized content recommendationsConnor O'Gara is a Midwestern-born, 30-something dad who has been covering college football for the last 13 years. After moving to Orlando and being the writer who launched the Big Ten site "Saturday Tradition" in 2015, Connor pivoted to predominantly SEC and national content for Saturday Down South in 2017.
In addition to writing a daily column and hosting the site's twice-a-week podcast , he consistently appeared on national platforms like the SEC Network's "The Paul Finebaum Show" and Sirius XM's "Off Campus.
" He's been a Heisman Trophy voter the last 4 years and continues to be one of the voices of reason in college football. But Connor's biggest claim to fame? After watching his alma mater win a national championship, he asked Curt Cignetti the question that got him free beer for life.
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