Category: Brian Kelly

Matt Fortuna: Only national title will justify Kelly leaving Notre Dame

Will Kelly win a national title in Louisiana?

With college football teams conducting spring practices, Brian Kelly departing Notre Dame for LSU is back at the forefront. Kelly has said the Tigers have better resources and facilities for winning a national championship than the Irish. Matt Fortuna of The Athletic says that’s the only way Kelly’s decision will be validated. In an editorial available only to subscribers, Fortuna makes it clear that now is the time for Kelly to put up or shut up.

In fact, how both LSU and Notre Dame look depends on Kelly’s success or failure to put the Tigers over the top. Fortuna says so in his lead:

“Here’s the thing about Brian Kelly, LSU and Notre Dame: Kelly needs to win a national title at the former to validate his decision to leave the latter. And the latter needs him to not to do that in order to validate its own approach to doing business.

Plain and simple.”

In the long history of college football, there surely have been rivalries between programs that haven’t even played each other. The Tigers are not a future Irish opponent, so this would qualify under that umbrella. Depending on what Kelly does in Baton Rogue, this could be an intense such rivalry. Fans on both sides will be wringing their hands in anticipation.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Brian Kelly explains reasons for leaving Notre Dame

You cool with these explanations or nah?

Enough time has passed that we’ve seen the worst of the flak Brian Kelly took over leaving Notre Dame for LSU, at least theoretically. For the past few months, we never got a detailed answer as to why Kelly departed South Bend for the Bayou State. Now, Kelly is spilling the beans in a story from The Associated Press. It might not satisfy everybody or even anybody, but at least we have something now.

Kelly lays out a few reasons for his decision and also lauds the Tigers’ apparently superior cafeteria:

“It’s been awesome because you’ve got incredible facilities, you’ve got players that want to be great. I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship. And I came down here because I want to be in the American League East.”

As for leaving Notre Dame, he had this to say:

“I felt like I did everything that I could at Notre Dame and they felt like they did everything they could for me. I felt like we had both got to a point where this is what they could do, right? This is what I did. And we couldn’t get past that. OK? And so here we are.”

Here’s a more general answer:

“I felt like that what I was looking for was student-athlete centered. And I was pushing for more for the student-athlete. And I wanted to see that piece. And we didn’t seem to be on the same path as to how that was going to get accomplished.”

So there it is. Is that going to make Irish fans more understanding? Probably not. Still, you have to give him credit for breaking his silence, even if he surely knows it won’t help his standing with his former employer.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Watch: Brian Kelly appears in cringey LSU commitment video

What is he doing now?

I’m sure Danny Lewis Jr. will have a fine career at LSU. If nothing else, he will emerge as a better person for the lessons college football will teach him. For his own sake, that better be the case because if he flames out, this commitment video with Brian Kelly will be all he’s known for:

If it wasn’t completely obvious by now, and it most definitely was, LSU Kelly is nothing like Notre Dame Kelly. First, he suddenly decides to talk like he’s spent his entire life in the southern part of the country. Now, he decides he’s cool enough to act like an experienced TikTok personality who’s on the same level as the generation that eats up the content on that platform like a Thanksgiving turkey.

What exactly changed about Kelly after he changed jobs? Was Notre Dame too stuffy of an institution for him to put on this persona? Is LSU the right amount of hip for him? All I know is Kelly and Geaux Tigers Nation deserve each other.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Watch: Brian Kelly’s latest cringe-worthy video

Cringeworthy.

Brian Kelly wasted no time turning into an internet sensation after taking the LSU job.  Just two days after agreeing to terms with Louisiana State University his accent had already changed by the time he addressed fans at a home basketball game.

Related: Internet roasts Brian Kelly for voice at LSU basketball game

It has nothing to do with his voice but Brian Kelly is again making plenty cringe with his latest viral sensation.

Walker Howard, one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in the 2022 recruiting class and a player Notre Dame pursued, reaffirmed his commitment to LSU Sunday night ahead of the early signing period.  He posted the video on Twitter with him and Brian Kelly and all I can say is make sure you watch it with your sound turned up.

Perhaps the worst thing about all of this is that I’ll never be able to hear Garth Brooks’s “Callin’ Baton Rouge” the same ever again after all of this and that stings because that song kicks.

Meanwhile Brian Kelly’s rivalry with being normal continues.

Related:

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5 reasons to love the Marcus Freeman hire

See It – Brian Kelly arrives in Baton Rouge

McMurphy: Brian Kelly was LSU’s backup plan

Whether it’s picking a college, finding a date to prom, or finding something to do on a Friday night, it’s always good to have a backup plan. Sometimes that backup plan turns out to be Brian Kelly.

As much as LSU has trotted out Brian Kelly and made it seem like he was their dream hire for the past week it seems to be that Kelly was wasn’t the first choice.

Rumors with LSU and Lincoln Riley ran rampant, so much in fact that Oklahoma State trolled their in-state rival Sooners during their rivalry game by blaring “Callin’ Baton Rouge” at Oklahoma’s former head coach.

As it turns out there was someone else besides Riley that LSU wanted more than Kelly.

According to longtime college football reporter Brett McMurphy, LSU offered Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher an eight-year deal worth $125 million ($13 million per year).  It just so happens that LSU was hosted Texas A&M on Thanksgiving weekend, two days before reports surfaced of Kelly accepting the job.

For comparison, Kelly wound up accepting a 10-year deal from LSU worth $95 million but that has plenty of incentives that in all likelihood will push it significantly north of $100 million.

Not bad money if you can get it, even if you were a backup plan.

Related:

Five reasons to love the Marcus Freeman hire

Brian Kelly gets roasted for his newfound southern accent

See It – Brian Kelly arrives in Baton Rouge

Details from Brian Kelly’s final recruiting trip as Notre Dame head coach

See It: Brian Kelly arrives in Baton Rouge

“Stop. Don’t. Comeback.” – Willy Wonka

After meeting with who used to be his players at 7:00 a.m. ET for somewhere between two and 11 minutes, former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly sped away from campus and prepared for his journey to LSU.

Related: 10 possible replacements for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame

If you’re interested in seeing any of Kelly’s trip from South Bend to Baton Rouge the LSU Football Twitter account has posted a variety of different pictures and we tried our best to provide a few captions to those the best way we saw fit below:

What Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick said about Brian Kelly departure

Notre Dame athletic director says he isn’t surprised by Kelly’s departure and shares more details to sudden coaching search

Notre Dame is on the search for a new head football coach after Brian Kelly shocked the college football world and left for LSU.  LSU made the news official early Tuesday and will introduce Kelly on Wednesday afternoon.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick addressed the news on Tuesday morning during a press conference on Notre Dame’s campus.  Here are the most significant things that Swarbrick had to say:

Brian Kelly trying to bring Marcus Freeman to LSU

What do you do if you’re Jack Swarbrick?

Brian Kelly’s plane to Baton Rouge doesn’t land until Tuesday afternoon but he’s already trying to take a very key piece of Notre Dame’s football program with him to LSU.

Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who plenty of players and fans alike want to be the next Notre Dame head coach, seems to be main priority for Kelly to take with him to LSU according to Pete Sampson of The Athletic.  Sampson was part of The Athletic report on Monday night that originally linked Kelly to LSU and on Tuesday morning Sampson shared the following on Twitter:

This is not at all surprising as Freeman appears to be a star in the making both in-game and as a recruiter.

Does this expedite Jack Swarbrick’s plan in hiring the next head coach?

Does it make Freeman more likely to be that hire?

Jack Swarbrick is a smart guy and had to have seen this coming from Kelly as soon as he knew he was leaving.

What I think this means is that we’ll know very soon if Freeman is a legitimate candidate for the head coach position or not and the only hire that I could possibly imagine him staying at Notre Dame with is if it were his old boss Luke Fickell from Cincinnati.

The pursuit of Freeman is hardly surprising but how Swarbrick and Notre Dame respond will have a massive impact on the future of the football program.

Related:

How Notre Dame players reacted to Brian Kelly news

Kelly’s text to Notre Dame players about departure

So who’s next? 10 possible targets to be Notre Dame’s next head coach

Photo gallery: Brian Kelly through the years at Notre Dame

Notre Dame’s latest national bowl projections

Brian Kelly sends text to Notre Dame players, will hold meeting

How would you respond to this text if you were a player?

Imagine just enjoying your night scrolling through social media when you suddenly come across news that affects you personally. No one in your inner circle told you this was happening, and you’ve suddenly found out that your life is changing drastically at the same time as everyone else. That’s what happened Monday as nobody at Notre Dame, including the football players, knew that Brian Kelly was leaving for LSU.

In what appears to be Kelly’s version of damage control, the soon-to-be-former Irish coach sent out the following message to the team:

Oh, to be a fly on the wall during that meeting. It has to be hard to believe that Kelly hasn’t lost the respect of at least some of his players. All Kelly had to do was communicate the news before it was made public, and the blowback that is certain to come could have been avoided or at least lessened. Instead, Kelly has a big mess on his hands, and it might be too big for him to clean up before he heads south.

Related: 10 candidates worth exploring for Notre Dame

More Related:

Brian Kelly to leave Notre Dame for LSU

Tweet: Notre Dame personnel “stunned” by Kelly’s departure

Oh yeah, actual football still remains for 2021 – Notre Dame’s latest national bowl projections

Notre Dame joins college football coaching carousel – track it all here

Opinion: Notre Dame will be better off without Brian Kelly

Will the Irish be better or worse without Kelly?

The last 11-years have been fantastic, the Irish have seen some great football, four straight 10-win seasons and trips to the BCS National Title game along with two berths into the College Football Playoff. Brian Kelly has elevated the team to new heights, but as he is now leaving to the Bayou, what is to be made of the Irish?

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Personally, I feel like this is a blessing in disguise, a similar situation to another Midwest power, Ohio State had with head coach John Cooper. Cooper did everything but win the big game, constantly losing to their rival Michigan while occasionally winning lower-tier bowl games. Sound familiar?

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Kelly has amassed the most wins in Notre Dame football history as a head coach, but what does he have to show for it? A Citrus Bowl win. Camping World crown. How about a Sun Bowl victory? Even a Music City Bowl win was thrown in there. Nothing to write home about.

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For all that Kelly did for the program, he will go down as not being able to win the big game. As for the Buckeyes, they would go on to hire Jim Tressel, and in year 2 they hoisted the National Championship Trophy. The Irish could very well be in the same exact position.

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The difference between the two? The Ohio State roster was diluted with over-rated talent, the Irish roster is quiet the opposite. I, for one, believe that the future is bright, regardless of who is brought in to replace Kelly. That coach will have to be able to win the big game and if they’re just winning 50% of those, it will be much better than what Kelly was able to accomplish.

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In no means am I saying the next coach will win over 100-games and surpass Kelly as the all-time wins leader. What I do expect is that the next coach will have more success in big games, which should lead the Irish to a place they haven’t been since 1988.