Brian Kelly is trying to take credit for Notre Dame’s success once again, but the contradictions have everyone rolling their eyes
Surprise, surprise, former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly took some time this week to give himself a quick pat on the back. In an interview with CBS Sports National College Football Reporter Brandon Marcello, Coach Kelly talked about his former team getting set to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national championship […]
Surprise, surprise, former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly took some time this week to give himself a quick pat on the back. In an interview with CBS Sports National College Football Reporter Brandon Marcello, Coach Kelly talked about his former team getting set to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national championship earlier this week.
Kelly is often complimented by most Fighting Irish fans for helping to raise the floor of the Notre Dame program. When he originally came over from the University of Cincinnati prior to the 2010 season, the team was in a bad place. Kelly did a very nice job of bringing back sustainability and increasing the expectations.
The biggest issue was that Coach Kelly ended up brainwashing the fanbase and made them okay with accepting good, but not great. It was always about what the program didn’t have, and never about finding answers. Combine that with his unlikeable personality, and most Notre Dame fans were met with relief when Kelly left for LSU before the 2022 season.
During his supposed support of the Notre Dame program, Kelly dropped a note about his recruiting background with many of the players on both sides of the ball. When you really dive into it, that statement becomes all the more hilarious.
“A lot of the guys there that are on both sides of the ball, I recruited. Obviously I want to see those guys win it all, and I think they’re in a great position. Totally excited for those guys."
When you dig into the starters going into the game against the Buckeyes, it’s almost hilarious to put context into Kelly’s claim. If you include the nickel as a starter on defense, along with the Rover as well, Coach Kelly recruited and coached just 7 of the 23 starters. He also didn’t coach any of the specialists.
Anybody who gives Kelly any sort of large credit for a potential victory on Monday is misguided, and mostly wrong. We can give him the credit he deserves, and still not have to give him a big portion of it. It’s even funnier to mention recruiting and Coach Kelly in the same sentence, something he was notoriously absent from far too often. Hey, at least his golf game got a nice boost because of it.
To make matters worse, Coach Kelly wasn’t done there. He then commented on Notre Dame’s ability to win a national championship, and the contradictions continued.
"…I wasn’t leaving Notre Dame because I couldn’t win a championship. You can win championships at Notre Dame, but I chose another path because I wanted a different challenge.”
Coach Kelly famously spoke about wanting to go to an environment with better support and the ability to win a national championship. Now, just three years later, we are still waiting for him to get LSU over the hump and Notre Dame has already done something he couldn’t, win a postseason game that mattered against top-ranked teams. If they win a championship on Monday, it would be the ultimate ending to the Brian Kelly experience.
Save your fake support. It’s time to wake up the echoes and reconfigure the expectations in South Bend. Kelly gave Notre Dame two great gifts down the stretch, hiring Marcus Freeman before his final season, and heading down the Baton Rouge shortly after.
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