Dabo Swinney and Brian Kelly will clash on Aug. 30 as part of 1 of the most anticipated season-opening games that college football has seen.
Swinney’s Clemson Tigers will host Kelly’s LSU Tigers in the battle of the high-profile programs who call “Death Valley” their home. This showdown will be at Clemson’s version of Death Valley, and that night, in a primetime, national TV showdown, it will be all business for the intense head coaches.
But right now it’s mid-July, and at Clemson Media Day on Tuesday it was Swinney who was providing his usual humor. Swinney is known for his jokes, and he’s also known for his brutal honesty, and the Clemson head coach couldn’t hide the truth regarding the LSU head coach named Brian Kelly.
Swinney explained that he was vacationing in Florida over the summer and was told that Kelly’s wife owned a souvenir shop that was close to the beach he happened to be visiting. Swinney’s wife, Kathleen, wanted to stop into the shop and show support to another coach’s family business. So, there the Swinney couple was, making a purchase at the shop, when 1 of the workers told them that there was a small stage in the back where performances went on.
When Dabo Swinney went behind the store and saw a sign that read “Brian Kelly,” he thought it was meant for the LSU head coach. So, Swinney being Swinney, he took a few pictures and texted them to Kelly, the coach he’ll be opposing in the season opener.
Then when Kathleen Swinney told the store employee that her husband would be opposing Kelly’s team in the season opener, the store worker had his own message for the Swinneys. He clarified that it wasn’t the LSU head coach but rather Brian Kelley, who is a country music singer for Florida Georgia Line.
Kathleen chimed in to the shop worker, proudly saying that her husband and Clemson would be playing Brian Kelly’s LSU squad later this summer. The confused employee quickly clarified: “That’s not the football coach — that’s Brian Kelley, the country music singer from Florida Georgia Line.”
Dabo spoke all about the mix up on Tuesday at Clemson Media Day, and here is the hilarious video:
No, Brian Kelly doesn’t moonlight as a singer in addition to his duties as LSU’s intense head coach, and now Swinney knows the real story.
Swinney being Swinney, he still made sure to invite the actual singer Brian Kelley to his Death Valley to perform at the same stadium where he’ll be coaching against Kelly on Aug. 30.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
