NASHVILLE − LSU football coach Brian Kelly has been traveling around Louisiana, recruiting some of the state’s best talent and once again breaking out a Southern twang — but he thinks his accent has improved since first joining the Tigers.
Kelly was hired by LSU in December 2021, and not long after, he unleashed a new accent during his initial speech to match the fans in Louisiana, throwing a drawl on the word “family.” What made the Southern twang strange is that the Massachusetts native spent a lot of his life in the Midwest, when he was the coach at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Central Michigan and all the way back to Grand Valley State in 1991.
“Understand now, I have a Boston, Midwestern and Louisiana accent now,” Kelly said last year at SEC Media Days. “So it’s three dialects into one. It’s no longer family — I’ve got all kinds of stuff to throw at you.”
Kelly said Monday at SEC Media Days that accent still pops up during the recruiting cycle. However, it varies based on where in Louisiana he happens to visit.
“I think my accent is pretty good and has gotten better throughout the recruiting process. It depends on if I’m in northern Louisiana or southern Louisiana. Sometimes I get over to Lake Charles, it’s got to change a little bit,” Kelly said.
