LSU's Brian Kelly denies 'factually incorrect' accusations of neglect by father of former player Greg Brooks Jr.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly has disputed comments made by the father of former LSU player Greg Brooks Jr.

Brooks Jr. filed a lawsuit against the school over the summer for negligence before he had to have surgery for a brain tumor. In the suit, Brooks said he was encouraged by LSU’s coaching staff to practice while not feeling well and said that LSU’s training staff didn’t provide the correct treatment and diagnosis before he had to have surgery for a cancerous brain tumor.

Greg Brooks Sr. appeared with his son on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. Greg Brooks Jr. is confined to a wheelchair after the surgery and has had to relearn how to talk and use his hands. Per the suit, which also names Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center as a defendant, the family believes that the surgeon who removed the tumor was not qualified to perform the procedure and that Brooks Jr. has suffered multiple strokes post-surgery.

Kelly, doctors at the medical center, and other LSU staffers are named in the lawsuit.

In the interview that aired Monday, Brooks Sr. is asked about the allegation that the family has not heard from anyone at LSU since October of 2023.

“Specifically Brian Kelly,” Brooks Sr. said. “My son almost lost his life, coach. Where were you? Forget about football. Pick up the phone and say you love the kid, man.”

In a news conference Wednesday, Kelly said he took exception to what Brooks Sr. had said and stated it was “factually incorrect” in that he wasn’t “part of Greg Brooks Jr.’s care and support.” Kelly added there were "many things I can't say" because of the lawsuit.

“Look, you can question me as a football coach, you can question me in terms of the things that we do on the field, but off the field, as a parent, as a husband, as somebody that is actively involved in every community that I’ve been involved with, this is where the line is drawn with me," Kelly said. "And that comment struck a nerve with me. It hit my heart. Because that’s not why I’m in this business. I’ve been in it for our players, I will always be in it for our players and it rattled me that somebody could possibly be so factually incorrect in stating that I was not part of Greg Brooks Jr.’s care and support. And the support was the entire university, the entire community.”

Brooks transferred to LSU after playing three seasons at Arkansas from 2019 through 2021. He played in 14 games in 2022 for the Tigers and had 66 tackles with two interceptions. Ahead of the 2023 season, Brooks was named a team captain and had eight tackles through the first two games.

Brooks played those games after he first started experiencing symptoms from the tumor. He first started having nausea and dizziness in early August and the suit accuses LSU’s coaching staff of telling him that if he sat out, someone else could take his spot in the starting lineup. The MRI that discovered the tumor happened after the second game of the season.