Paul Finebaum Calls Out Former LSU, Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly

Even when Brian Kelly isn’t coaching football, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum can’t help but criticize the longtime football coach.

Appearing on The Matt Barrie Show, Finebaum admonished Kelly for some recent comments he made about how Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is responsible for star quarterback Arch Manning’s struggles this season. Finebaum mocked Kelly for those comments and declared that he “cannot do anything right” other than find “off-brand jobs to land.”

“It was on this day a year ago that Brian Kelly was fired,” Finebaum said. “(James) Franklin had already been fired. By the way, I want to congratulate Brian Kelly for calling out Steve Sarkisian this week. He picked a good week to show what a big-time Sirius XM radio analyst he is. Brian Kelly cannot do anything right, other than now I’m sure he’s trying to find one of these off-brand jobs to land.”

It’s also a bit ironic of Finebaum to be so critical of Kelly’s comments on Sarkisian given that he made near-identical criticisms of Sarkisian prior to Texas’ big win over Ole Miss last week.

“I’m beginning to wonder if Arch Manning should even start. I know he will, and he’s capable of leading them to a win, but I blame Sarkisian for every aspect of this,” Finebaum said prior to the game, via Awful Announcing.

Finebaum & Kelly

It’s strange to see Finebaum having so much vitriol for Kelly when just over two weeks ago he was on the exact same show ripping LSU for firing him in the first place.

“LSU paid $53 million to get rid of the coach who didn’t look this bad early on in his tenure. It’s worth remembering that,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show earlier this month.

But earlier this year Finebaum also reflected on what a painful chore it was to interview Kelly on Mondays for several years.

“A couple years ago, Nick Saban started doing Pat McAfee every week, so we got a call from LSU and Brian Kelly saying he wanted to do our show every week,” Finebaum said in July, via The Big Lead. “Now I don’t know if any of you know Brian Kelly, spending 20 minutes with Brian Kelly for three consecutive years every Monday? I think I would rather have a colonoscopy on the stage right now without anesthesia. It’s that painful … So there’s always a trade-off, and we bought it and ended up dying with it.”

Finebaum’s opinions on Kelly seem to change with the weather.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Oct 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.