After going viral over a heated postgame exchange with a local reporter following LSU’s 20-10 win over SEC foe Florida on Saturday, Tigers head coach Brian Kelly attempted to clear the air by apologizing.
Kelly was noticeably agitated when the first question he was asked — posed by WBRZ’s Michael Cauble — criticized LSU’s lackluster offensive showing, specifically on third down and in the ground game. “You’re looking at this from the wrong perspective,” Kelly fired back. “LSU won the football game. I don’t know what you want from me. You want us to win 70-0 against Florida to keep you happy? … Try another question. … Give them some respect instead of microanalyzing every little thing. This is ridiculous.”
On Monday, Kelly revealed that he reached out to Cauble to apologize. “My standard relative to how we work with the media on a day-to-day basis needs to be higher,” Kelly added. “I take responsibility, and I’ll be better in the future.”
While some criticized Kelly over the weekend, FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt was among those vouching for him. He shared that he “kind of loved” how Kelly handled the situation on Monday’s edition of “The Joel Klatt Show.” He also broke down why he believes Kelly’s outburst had more to do with speaking to his team than the reporter.
“I love it so much, I really do,” Klatt said. “I’m not one to sit here and defend a lot of what Brian Kelly does, but I kind of loved that … and his team loves that. … Coaches speak to the team through the media — not to the media. Coaches, I hate to tell you this. If you sit in one of those seats, they don’t care about you … so when you ask them something like that that is antagonistic towards a sector or a specific group on their team, they’re going to get upset.
“And you know what? I don’t totally disagree with them because you did win the game. Like, come on, that’s the first question after a 20-10 [win]? How about, ‘Man, your defense played great. How did you go about fixing the defense so quickly?’ I guarantee you, by the way, if the question is posed like that, Brian Kelly is going to praise his defense and then … he’ll criticize his own offense. He’ll get there for you, but when you lead with that, he’s going to defend them.”
Joel Klatt defends Brian Kelly’s heated exchange with reporters | Joel Klatt Show
As the aftermath of Kelly and Cauble’s exchange fades, it’ll be interesting to see how LSU moves forward.
The Tigers went three-and-out on their first three drives on Saturday. They scored 13 of their 20 points in the second quater on two field goals and one touchdown. The other touchdown — a defensive score — came in the third quarter. It was one of five total times that LSU’s defense picked off Florida star quarterback DJ Lagway.
LSU (3-0) will next take on FCS program Southeastern Louisiana (2-1) on Saturday night (7:45 p.m. ET).
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