Brian Kelly has found himself on the butt-end of plenty of jokes for some of his recruiting tactics at LSU. That hasn't stopped in 2025, with one up-and-coming coach taking a swipe at the Tigers coach on Wednesday.
During an interview with Dave Campbell's Texas Football, new Prairie View A&M coach Tremaine Jackson wasn't afraid to take aim at some of Kelly's more out-of-character moments in recruiting when outlining his own approach around how he'll recruit players to the Panthers.
"We don't wine and dine guys in recruiting. We give it to you straight up because I don't have time to de-recruit you," Jackson said. "You're not going to catch me on Twitter with my hat backward and dancing on the 360 [camera] with guys. Brian Kelly did that, and he ain't won a championship yet."
He didn't have to embellish that Kelly moment either. That really happened.
A month after the former Notre Dame coach's public introduction to LSU fans, he unveiled a new, deeply unnatural southern twang, and the typically stern Kelly was recorded posing in a 360-degree camera with Tigers recruits. While one can argue that Kelly is just doing what he needs to in a new recruiting environment and adjusting to the social media age, Jackson clearly intends to keep it real instead.
"I stood up and told them we're going to win here because our kids are going to change. I'm going back to being me, and you'll want me to stay before I'm done," he said, recalling a meeting with boosters at his last school, Division II Valdosta State, after the team struggled after he acquiesced on a change to his policy on players wearing jewelry during games.
"I told them they could fire me, but I'd go [to] a school that's on their schedule and come back and beat them."
After going 5–6 in his first year at Valdosta State in 2022, he went 25–3 over the next two seasons, with a pair of trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs. After a quarterfinal finish in '23, the Blazers made it all the way to the national championship game last season, losing their first game of the year in the title game to Ferris State.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as FCS Coach Takes Huge Shot at Brian Kelly's Recruiting Tactics.
