Late last week we stumbled into a quote from Brian Kelly that we weren’t entirely sure what to make of. Depending how you heard or read it, it sounded like Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman would be headed for a head coaching gig soon.
But is that gig going to be at Notre Dame or elsewhere? When I heard it in its full context my thought went to Notre Dame, but Kelly was asked about and clarified the comments on Monday:
“We were talking about race so we weren’t talking about Notre Dame at all. It’s like anything else, somebody took the comments and inserted Notre Dame in it and it had nothing to do with Notre Dame. We were talking about giving qualified people, in particular African American and Black leaders the opportunity to lead.
I’ve done that in my football program with director of operations, I think I alluded to that. Then we were talking about coaches and I said the next head coach will be Marcus Freeman and that got taken as the next head coach at Notre Dame, but that was never part of the equation. I was talking about him being the next Black head coach, in terms of that will be the next head coach that is Black in the country.
It’s just one of those things, you’re on a golf course, and you’re talking about race in America and everybody else thought I was talking about Notre Dame football. So, it is what it is. I don’t know if I clarified it any because I think it’s still gonna be taken as, ‘Oh, he must have been thinking that he’s the next head coach.’ But if you think about it, why would somebody ask me, ‘Hey, who’s going to be the next head coach?’ I’d be pretty offended.”
-Brian Kelly on August 30, 2021
So asked and answered on the Freeman front. I’ve listened back more than a dozen times and I didn’t interpret it that way so I’m glad Kelly took advantage of the opportunity to clarify things Monday.
Now, onto Florida State we go.
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