Coach Geezy in the Big Easy Part III: Legacy | From Bourbon St. to the Bayou

[SilverBullet19]

As Rizzo said, big pickups to really begin building LSU back into a national power. Hopefully they can add some weight on over their first couple years. They could really become dominant as upper classmen


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Cheese2121]

Sorry I was absent for a few days my friend. Absolutely love the latest news out of Baton Rouge. A blast from the past there with Anthony High. I remember being disappointed all those years ago when he made the decision to bolt for the NFL early. What a great storyline you have weaved out of it. I also appreciate and love the throwback to my "Slice Off the Old Block" column from back in the day.

It will be interesting to see you in more of a shotgun look offense here again. I will be curious to see who emerges in your wide receiving corp. Do you anticipate being pretty up tempo as well?

Huge pair of commitments and a nice storyline with the Carter brothers. SO cool that you tied it back to the Hurricane Ramone story. You really are the GOAT at this. Loving this so much. Still anxious to see if you land the linebacker.

Great offseason so far!

[Deegeezy]

Quote: Originally Posted by R1zzo23

Huge win on the recruiting trail for the Tigers there! Any help in that WR core is going to be huge. If your game world is anything like the real world you should be able to replenish that secondary with ease. Hopefully this is the start of that! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks man...I am feeling more and more better about our roster with each passing day. I love the way this roster and team is coming together thus far, and we're not done just yet.

I won't be so sure about the defensive backs being replinished easily though. We struggled mightily in that area at Tulane in recent years and it developed into a major Achilles heel for us. And when I finally was able to land a couple of blue chip safeties, I got the boot before I even got a chance to use them!

Quote: Originally Posted by SilverBullet19

As Rizzo said, big pickups to really begin building LSU back into a national power. Hopefully they can add some weight on over their first couple years. They could really become dominant as upper classmen Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Agreed...this pair is hopefully two large building blocks for what is to come for us. I'm not too worried about their weight, I just hope they can ball. I see some similar traits to Desean Jackson in Brady; I cannot wait to utilize his 4.3 speed next season!

Quote: Originally Posted by Cheese2121

Sorry I was absent for a few days my friend. Absolutely love the latest news out of Baton Rouge. A blast from the past there with Anthony High. I remember being disappointed all those years ago when he made the decision to bolt for the NFL early. What a great storyline you have weaved out of it. I also appreciate and love the throwback to my "Slice Off the Old Block" column from back in the day. It will be interesting to see you in more of a shotgun look offense here again. I will be curious to see who emerges in your wide receiving corp. Do you anticipate being pretty up tempo as well? Huge pair of commitments and a nice storyline with the Carter brothers. SO cool that you tied it back to the Hurricane Ramone story. You really are the GOAT at this. Loving this so much. Still anxious to see if you land the linebacker. Great offseason so far!

All good on the absence brother. As I always state, I know how it is!

Glad you clicked on the link to your article. I was really hoping that you would of all people. Classic stuff right there and it deserved to have attention called to it once again.

As far as the offense, I'm not envisioning any type of up-tempo, no huddle style. We will still be methodical with our approach and have a focus on ball control. I've heard many coaches say this over the years - just because you run a spread doesn't mean you abandon ball control principles. RB Scottie Rodgers will still be a bell-cow for us.

I appreciate the kind words as always and love that even to this day, you still pick up on all of the Easter eggs this story has to offer. It's no wonder you're in the medical field, with a memory that great. I knew you'd enjoy that Anthony High call-back, and I think you might enjoy this next bit of news as well...

[Deegeezy]

Sunday, January 31, 2027....

Following a brief stint with Florida St., former Green Wave defensive coordinator Charles Kelly has spent the past three seasons as Tennessee's special teams coach and is now joining forces again with Coach D. Geezy, this time in Baton Rouge.



After 8 years of separation, Geezy hires former Tulane defensive coordinator Charles Kelly to run LSU's defense along with another pair with ties to his old team | Kelly ran 4-2-5 defense in latter years with the Seminoles, will bring similar style defense to Baton Rouge | "Consultation call" inadvertently turns into an informal job interview, results in Geezy and Kelly reunion despite a somewhat tumultuous divorce in 2019 | Former Wave staffer Steve Ellis, and coaching rookie Mark Richards to join Kelly in Baton Rouge in hopes of turning around the Tigers 'D'

Report courtesy Eve Jewell, ESPN/SEC Network


The two men spent 9 seasons together at Tulane and together won two Conference USA titles, five SEC titles, and 2 national championships before going through what many would call a painful divorce in 2019, amidst much controversy. However in recent days and weeks, new LSU head coach D. Geezy and his former defensive coordinator Charles Kelly, who was most recently Tennessee's special teams coach, hugged it out and agreed to terms on a three-year contract for Kelly to become the Tigers' newest defensive coordinator.

Kelly, who won national titles with Tulane in 2016 and 2018, also won the 2020 national title at Florida St. just a year after leaving Geezy's side in New Orleans.

Kelly, who at age 60 is likely nearing retirement, accepted the position following several days of "hours-long" communication between himself and Geezy, discussing the intricacies of the 4-2-5 defense, a defensive alignment Geezy had reportedly been interested in instituting during his final year at Tulane. The consultation calls quickly evolved into something else, with the two men spending hours breaking down tape via webinar while also reminiscing about their time earning championship rings together with the Green Wave. It wasn't long before Kelly was on a plane from Knoxville to Baton Rouge to visit in-person with Geezy and with LSU athletic director Joe Alleva, and it wasn't long after that that a deal was struck between the parties.

"We spent a lot of time together analyzing the work he did at FSU and we just feel like this is the best fit for us both," said Geezy. "Things really didn't start to gain traction until a report emerged about us looking hard at running a 4-2-5. Charles actually contacted me and we spent probably 8 hours communicating over the course of three days and spent several hours breakdown film via a shared web screen, and we just hit it off, again."

According to sources, the two men were close to re-joining forces in 2024 when Tulane's defensive coordinator post became vacant, however Geezy was thwarted by Tulane university officials, who did not want to take another chance on Kelly for public relations reasons, and the job ended up going to Karl Dunbar.

At the surface of Tulane's concerns was that Kelly was suspended in 2019 by the NCAA due to an alleged bounty scandal, and later that year, Kelly reportedly got Geezy in hot water after inadvertently bringing the world to the attention that Geezy had FOX reporter Erin Andrews in his hotel room at an inappropriate hour the day prior to a 62-27 blowout loss to Arkansas. Despite winning national championships together in 2016 and 2018, Geezy and Kelly decided to part ways, but that's now in the past.

"I've said time and time again that I thought a lot of what went on between Coach Kelly and myself was mischaracterized," said Geezy. "We are still friends to this day, as evidenced by the tweet he sent for the world to see back when it was announced I was walking away from Tulane."

As previously mentioned, Kelly will deploy a 4-2-5 defense at LSU. The major, overarching philosophy of the defensive scheme is versatility while keeping five defensive backs on the field for the majority of plays. The system utilizes 4 down lineman, two linebackers, and five defensive backs, including a "Star" safety/linebacker hybrid as the fifth defensive back, and a "Buck" linebacker/defensive end hybrid as a down lineman in some formations.

The idea with the 4-2-5 is to be able to defend everything well without selling out to stop one certain area of an opponent’s repertoire. Two massive bodies up front makes it difficult for an offense to consistently run the ball, having the Buck guarantees some versatility with coverages and blitzes, and the Star is meant to defend teams that prefer to play in space while not sacrificing too much size against the run.

"Our first priorities out of the gate are obviously recruiting," said Kelly, who knows that at age 60, his time coaching is running short. "We know these things take time, but we will need to get more playmakers here in these last few days before National Signing Day."

"Then after that, we'll put all of our pieces on the table and figure out our depth chart, including who our "Buck" will be and who our "Star" will be, then go from there. Right now, the first guy that jumps out to me on the roster as a Star candidate is our 6-7 SS Mario Reed. He looks like an ideal DB/LB tweener, but we'll see how the roster shakes out once we get to the spring.

"That said, I can't express enough just how pumped I am to be working alongside coach 'D' again. It'll take some time and it will not occur overnight, but we think we can turn this into a special defense and hopefully we can win a few more dangum rings together before it is time for me to sail into the sunset."

ELLIS, RICHARDS TO ALSO JOIN STAFF


In addition to the hiring of Kelly, LSU has also announced that another pair of men with ties to Coach Geezy at Tulane have been hired - Steve Ellis and Mark Richards. Ellis, who served as Geezy's defensive coordinator with the Green Wave from 2020-2024, will join the Tigers' staff as its defensive backs coach.

A LaPlace, Louisiana native, Richards spent three seasons with the Green Wave terrorizing offenses, and finished his career with 265 tackles, 25 sacks, and 7 interceptions, along with touchdown above versus Georgia Tech 14 years ago.

Geezy, Kelly, and Ellis all worked together at Nicholls St. University over two decades ago, while Geezy and Ellis also shared time on the field together for the Division I-AA Colonels in the late 90's/early 00's. Ellis' contract was not renewed at Tulane in 2024 after multiple up-and-down seasons by the team's defensive unit under his control. A hybrid safety/cornerback/linebacker during his playing days, Ellis is a perfect fit to assist Kelly in the implementation of the 4-2-5 defense in Baton Rouge.

"When it came down to it, me and coach 'D' will always be boys," said Ellis, who has spent his past three years at Middle Tennessee St. as the team's cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator. "I ain't gonna lie, I was mad when I wasn't retained at Tulane, but I know this is a business. We remained cool, as did me and coach Chuck, and now we're ready to get back at it like we did back in the day."

Richards, who played for Geezy from 2012 through 2014 at Tulane, joins LSU as its linebackers coach. Richards recently announced his retirement from the NFL following an 11-year career, all with the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks, and has no previous coaching experience, but should have no issues with a transition from wearing a helmet to wearing a headset after his long and successful professional football career, which included winning the 2020 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. In addition to coaching the team's linebackers, the Louisiana native who terrorized SEC defenses with the Wave while playing the "Slash" linebacker position under Kelly, will also be responsible for coaching the team's "Buck" position, which is essentially the same as his collegiate Slash position.

"Coach Geezy told me a long time ago when I played for him that if I ever wanted to coach just give him a shout, and that's just what I did," said Richards, who has never won a championship at any level, as he left Tulane following his junior season, just one year prior to the Green Wave's 2016 national title. "I retired just a couple of weeks ago, and I was already missing football and not being a part of a team. When I reached out to coach and then heard about him and Coach Kelly getting back together, it was a no-brainer. LSU was a rival of ours back then, but I am ready to be a Tiger now and to not only finally win a championship from a personal standpoint, but to also bring another college football title to my home state."

Editor's Note:

This defensive coordinator change will be manifested video game-wise by me changing my team's defensive playbook from "Multiple D" to "4-2-5," which I learned this week is the defense Kelly ran in his last few seasons at Florida State in real life; I suppose the reunion was destiny, as I have been wanting to run a 4-2-5 for a while now.

The hiring of Ellis will be manifested simply by our team being partial to versatile defensive backs (cornerback/safety hybrids) like he was in his playing days in recruiting, while the hiring of Richards will be manifested by us making it a point to seek out linebacker/defensive hybrids like he was during his days.

Click here to view 2027 LSU Tigers Off-Season Roster

[Deegeezy]

[Hellisan]

This is going to be a long one. Today was a quiet day around our house and ended up revolving around a few things, doing laundry, watching my Seahawks, and catching up on the final year at Tulane and the sequence of events that led to the separation of Geezy and Tulane. Let's just say that you're quite the content creator. There was a lot to go through and this comprised much of my day. I couldn't have picked a better way to spend much of my day, however. I enjoyed it immensely. I have a quick commentary on the dynasty reporting process and some of the things I love about what you (and other incredible writers) do that I wish I had caught on to. And then I have (which I hope to keep short) some commentary and takes on the games.

With the shot to the head that NCAA 14 took at the hands of the selfish O'Bannons (and others) a shift was made in how dynasties could be run. I suppose that even before that, there are those dynasty writers who preferred to play old games and stick with a storyline longer term. I was never in that camp. I used to write at MM and other places, and attend E3 - It was always ingrained for me to be out looking for that next game. And so it followed (and still does) that when I'm doing a dynasty I'm just trying to get as many seasons in as possible before the next game, and report to an acceptable depth, but not the Mariana Trench depth. Even when it was clear that NCAA 14 was it for the long term, I don't think I really advanced my reporting style. I love playing and reporting my dynasty don't get me wrong, but I admire the depth and detail you put into your craft and I thank you for sharing that with us. It's truly a pleasure to read and partake in.

With that, I go back to the season with a few comments that came to mind catching up.

LSU Game Knowing how Geezy makes use of the RB, it will be interesting to see if Jamie Stover wins the starting job next year as he did quite well against Tulane; or at least, to see how the job shakes out because he looks like a capable player. LSU cheerleader Jordan Hebert certainly seems to fit Geezy's standards, I always forget they used to have pretty nice looking cheerleader models in NCAA.

ND Game The eventual national champs sure played like national champs, and I must agree that performance by Caldwell stacks up handily with some of the best I've seen.

It's weird looking at the Top 25 Signees chart that you posted for Notre Dame's recruiting success of a few years ago, and seeing that there literally was not one bust amongst the Top 25 (ratings wise). Obviously, at this point everybody selects their NCAA game of choice based on different criteria, but one area where NCAA 14 is objectively better is there are quite a few 5-star duds, ratings wise. And then some of them might play really well in the games, and high rated guys might play like trash.

Kentucky Game - Insane game, particularly insane was the pbu at 25 seconds left to play, it was credited as a deflection but I have no idea how the DB got his hands on it. That was likely a game saving play in regulation.

UCLA Game - The first stunning outcome honestly... Because I know to expect anything in your dynasties.. But I never, ever, ever *clap* ever thought a west coast team would be able to win this game for some reason. I figured it was an easy upset and the Bruins would be way too soft, like Jim Mora's teams.

Huh... Moving truck. Maybe it was a different type of omen, I'm sure many have already commented that. Let me chime in on congratulating you on the real life promotion to director, bro.

SEC Championship - Know the feeling of getting down big and the sinking feeling. Tulane was really game and determined to make a comeback out of it, and disappointingly it fell short. It was disappointing to read that.

Capital One - Just glad to see Geezy leave Tulane with a victory. That would have been the saddest thing that happened yet if the Wave hadn't won that one.

I haven't fully digested that Geezy is moving on, and I'll have to read through this thread but I'm glad to be starting fresh with the LSU chapter. I hope that you can do what I've always done and sort of immerse yourself in the program from the perspective of an LSU fan. That's one thing I do take my time with, understanding the legacy, looking at Google maps images from the ground and seeing the campus, basically trying to take whatever I can from it as my own so a potential reader that loves and knows the program doesn't just think I'm missing everything that's wonderful about it.

Good luck, I know you won't need it creating a great story.

[Cheese2121]

Love love love the Kelly signing and really the natural choice. I feel like I have been on the Kelly band wagon every time your defensive coordinator position opened up over the years. I am really excited to see the 4-2-5 instituted. I loved the hybrid look that Richards gave you back when you were running with the "slash" position.

Speaking of Richards, happy to see him on staff. Probably my favorite legacy player of all time of yours outside of the illustrious Reggie Moore. It was nice to see his career take such stride in Seattle after the slow start in Houston. I almost forgot he was drafted by the Texans until I read back. I wonder two how old his sons are these days. Could we be seeing a Richards son in Baton Rouge in the future....

To echo the words of Hellisan. The depth, craft and art you put into these threads is one of legends. I am just so thankful to have been along with you for as much of the ride as I have been. It is surreal remembering back and recalling where I was in my own life back when Mark Richards was being recruited. You are the man, my friend. So excited for this next chapter.

A few random thoughts...Can't wait for some of Ellis's off the wall comments again. Those always made me laugh. And also loved the callback to the Erin Andrews scandal. Oh the glory days of Geezy.

[Son of Sam99]

Geezey is getting the band back together! Cue the montage!!