One would think that after meeting head-to-head four times, Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney would know LSU football coach Brian Kelly rather well.
That, however, is now in question after a vacation that Swinney took this offseason. And for that, when the two veteran coaches meet up pregame at the 50-yard line in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season, they will have an all-time laugh.
In a media availability on July 15, the 18th-year Tigers head coach shared a story of a hilarious mix-up with the head coach of his Week 1 opponent with a country music artist that has the same name while on vacation with his wife, Kathleen, his brother and sister-in-law in Grayton Beach, Florida.
“My sister-in-law, she’s saying, ‘Hey, Brian Kelly has a place. His wife has a gift shop right on the corner there in Grayton Beach.’ I’m like, ‘Oh really? That’s pretty cool.’ I had no idea,” Swinney said July 15 during a media availability. “… Me and Kath walk into the store and Kath buys something because she’s trying to support Mrs. Kelly or whatever we’re doing.”
Dabo Swinney got the wrong Brian Kelly.
In a hysterical clip, Swinney mistook Brian Kelly, LSU’s head coach, for Brian Kelley, who is best known for his work with Florida Georgia Line.
This clip is seriously a must watch.
Swinney and Kelly will have a laugh in August. pic.twitter.com/V6WVERuKyd
— Grayson Mann (@gray_mann21) July 15, 2025
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The Swinneys would then continue walking around the store and headed outside to a backyard concert stage, where the two-time national championship coach took photos around/on the stage that had a sign of “Brian Kelley performing today” and sent them to the LSU coach.
That was until his brother’s friend broke the news to Swinney’s wife on the side that it wasn’t the Brian Kelly that Dabo Swinney went 3-1 against while Kelly was at Notre Dame.
“… So now Kath goes, ‘Babe! Brian Kelley’s a singer for Florida Georgia Line. And I went, ‘What?! I’ve been firing all these pictures off to Brian Kelly.’ He’s over there probably going, ‘What the hell?! This is an idiot. What’s this dude doing?'”
So, how did the actual Brian Kelly respond to Swinney’s texts? Perhaps exactly like you’d expect he would.
“He sends me a text and is like, ‘Yeah, you just can’t get away from Brian Kelly,’ or something like that,” Swinney said. “And I’m sure he was like, ‘I have no idea what the context of this is,’ but anyway, then I realize that it wasn’t him and I’m like, ‘Oh my god. We’ll have a laugh over that.'”
Swinney and Kelly are set to meet up in Week 1 on Saturday, Aug. 30 when Clemson welcomes in LSU to Memorial Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff in “Death Valley.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dabo Swinney shares hilarious story on mix-up with LSU’s Brian Kelly
