At least publicly, Brian Kelly’s way of helping and encouraging those under his watch is intense, with the LSU football coach’s face sometimes turning beet red.

This week, though, he took a gentler approach. After all, he was dealing with a completely different kind of animal.

On Friday, Kelly released a bald eagle from a cage that had been treated and rehabilitated by the LSU school of veterinary medicine’s wildlife hospital. The hospital has been treating the bird since last October, when it discovered it had a left coracoid fracture that prevented it from flying.

REQUIRED READING: Forget Michigan. Brian Kelly nearly ready to roar with LSU football | Toppmeyer

Kelly had opened the door to the cage and, after a second of inactivity, coaxed the eagle out by saying “Come on out.” The bird quickly followed the command, came out of the cage and flew away before perching on a nearby tree.

It’s not often an SEC football coach — at least a non-Auburn one — is seen handling an eagle. Social media reacted accordingly, with Kelly receiving some praise and, of course, some jokes.

Beyond getting an unforgettable experience helping the country’s national bird, releasing the eagle could end up paying off for Kelly.

In January 2023, second-year women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey took part in a similar event reintroducing a rehabilitated bald eagle back into the wild. Three months later, her team won the program’s first-ever national championship.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Social media reacts to Brian Kelly releasing rehabilitated bald eagle