Georgia's Kirby Smart Reacts to LSU Firing Brian Kelly, 'Everything's Boom or Bust'

Few people understand the pressures that come with coaching at a high-profile college football program better than Georgia's Kirby Smart, and he weighed in on LSU's decision to fire Brian Kelly.

"It's the world we live in," he told reporters Monday. "… I don't know enough about that specific situation. I think you're asking for a general view. … It's obviously a tough situation on everybody. Let's be honest. The players dealing with it, fans dealing with it, coaches dealing with it. 

"At this time, in the middle of the season, I think there's so much built around the playoffs. Everything is boom or bust, and you can't have a normal season. People have to make decisions earlier based on how somebody does. 

"I know there are high expectations. I coached at LSU, guy once told me, 'That office you are in. That's not your office. You are borrowing it.' I knew right then, if you didn't win, you wouldn't be there long."

Smart was a member of LSU's staff when Nick Saban was the head coach in 2004 and has been the head coach of the Bulldogs since the start of the 2016 season. He won back-to-back national championships during the 2021 and 2022 campaigns and is widely considered one of the best coaches in the sport.

But Kelly was also widely considered an excellent coach when he went 113-40 in 12 years as Notre Dame's head coach before taking the LSU job. The Tigers went 10-4 in his first season in 2022, 10-3 in his second year and 9-4 last season before starting 5-3 this year.

Things were trending in the wrong direction, and LSU moved on after they were all but officially eliminated from College Football Playoff contention with Saturday's blowout loss to Texas A&M.

According to USA Today's coaching database, Kelly could be owed a $53.3 million buyout, although he and the school could negotiate a settlement.

The previous three coaches at LSU all won national titles prior to the Kelly hire, so he was facing plenty of expectations and pressure. The program seemed far away from a national-title one by the time Saturday's game ended and decided to move on as a result.

But it was still another high-profile in-season firing after teams such as Penn State and Florida also moved on from their respective coaches for failing to live up to similarly sky-high expectations.