Brian Kelly’s Incompetent Strategy For Recruiting In The NIL Era Is Already Proving To Be A Bad Idea

LSU barely escaped with a win over South Carolina in Columbia on Saturday so Brian Kelly barely escaped a much louder conversation about his employment. He lived to see another week.

However, it is abundantly clear that his outdated strategy for roster management is not working.

The Tigers, like most programs around the country, were in desperate need of help on the defensive line during the offseason. There is a shortage of elite talent in the trenches so the position is at a premium.

In the era of Name, Image and Likeness, the most efficient way to acquire talent is through the transfer portal. Traditional high school recruiting is a good way to establish depth but players in the portal have experience against college-level competition. They are more seasoned, which makes them more prepared to step into a starting lineup on Day 1.

Finances are important to get those kinds of players to commit. An ability to offer more money through NIL opportunities increases the likelihood of an acquisition through the portal.

Kelly either refuses to accept the new reality, genuinely believes that his program is morally superior and is prioritizing his code of ethics over efficiency, or does not have any NIL money from which to leverage. Regardless of the answer, the head coach in Baton Rouge made an outlandish statement prior to his third year at LSU.

He proudly claimed in an interview with Jacques Doucet that his inability to recruit the depth he needed on the defensive line stemmed from an unwillingness to “buy players.” Kelly proudly said that as if it was a positive thing in a period of time where “buying players” is actually the most efficient way to win…