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Brian Kelly May Pound His Table Over Notre Dame

While Brian Kelly struggles at LSU, his old Notre Dame team is doing great without him

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Nov 18
Nov 18

By Rock Westfall

Late in the 2021 season, and with his team still in the College Football Playoff race, Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly bailed. Kelly agreed to a 10-year, $95 million contract with LSU.

The theory was that without the type of admissions restrictions that Notre Dame had, Kelly would win at least one and probably several national championships. Yet, just a week earlier, Kelly said, “This is where I want to be” and that he expected to finish his career under the Golden Dome.

Kelly’s Notre Dame players discovered his defection via social media, so he sent them a clumsy message that simply said, “whoops, sorry.” Finally, everyone met, and after an 11-minute speech, Kelly was gone for good.

It takes a lot of something to brazenly quit on a team still in the mix for the CFP. And at an institution that arguably boasts the richest history in the sport. But Kelly didn’t give a damn about any of that. Brian Kelly cares only about Brian Kelly.

Kelly is not doing so well these days. His LSU team lost 27-20 in Las Vegas to the lightly regarded USC Trojans, who were derided as soft, pampered, and not man enough to beat a traditional SEC power. Yet they did.

The night before, Kelly’s old Notre Dame program scored a courageous and satisfying win at Texas A&M, another SEC program that boasts one of the most intimidating game environments in the country.

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After losing to USC, at his post-game press conference, Kelly pounded the table. The mini tantrum came off as contrived, a cheap knockoff version of Nick Saban sending a media message to his team.

But contrived is a fitting description of Kelly, once famous for his purple-headed, screaming rages on the sidelines of Notre Dame. After a humbling 4-8 season in 2016, Kelly was forced into pretending he had changed and was a kinder, gentler coach. But beneath the surface, Kelly remained a selfish, callous, narcissistic prick.

A Record of Tragedy, Corruption, and Falling Short  

Brian Kelly walked out of Notre Dame with a record of 92-40. He led the Irish to two CFP berths and the 2012 national championship game. On those postseason occasions, Notre Dame lost badly and was dominated by teams with superior athleticism and depth. Thus, the theory that Kelly could top his career resume with a national championship only at a school like LSU rather than at Notre Dame.

While at Notre Dame, the football program had to vacate its wins from 2012 and 2013 because of academic misconduct. Also, during Kelly’s watch, Declan Sullivan died in 2010 when sent up to film practice on a hydraulic lift despite 60-mile-per-hour winds and Sullivans’ fear of the situation. The rented scissor lifts were not to be used in winds above 28 MPH. IOSHA fined the school $77,500. Other upper-midwestern programs, including Ohio State, ordered their film staff to stay on the ground that day.

Earlier in that 2010 season, Lizzy Seeberg, a student at nearby St. Mary’s College, died by suicide after allegations of sexual assault were blown off by Notre Dame and Kelly, who told the player involved in the accusations to stay out of it after he wanted to come forward.

All told Kelly’s tenure was a tease on the field with dark, ominous clouds above. 

Bayou Bluster with the Fake Accent of an Outsider

When the Massachusetts-raised Kelly arrived at LSU, he seemed like a man who was set free from the restrictions that supposedly held him down at Notre Dame. He blustered and bragged about the glory to come, including a cringe-worthy speech at a basketball game, complete with a fake southern accent that is still referred to on national sports radio.

But as was the case at Notre Dame, Kelly has won enough to be in the national conversation but not enough to get where LSU fans ultimately expect to be.

On Sunday night, USC scored the game-winning TD with eight seconds to play to cap off an eight-play, 75-yard drive against a Tiger defense that has an entirely new coaching staff. 

Kelly fired his defensive coaches after an abysmal performance in 2023, which was the main culprit in costing the Tigers a CFP berth. Kelly’s act revealed another personality trait well-known within the coaching industry. Brian Kelly is never at fault, it’s always someone else that is to blame.  

LSU played without discipline and committed selfish penalties (10 total for 99 yards) that proved costly in the end. The Trojans outgained the Tigers 450-421, which indicates that the right team had won.

“We didn’t play complementary football,” Kelly said. “But the thing that is most concerning for me are the personal fouls, the penalties that are selfish. They’re undisciplined penalties. That falls back on me. We take pride in running a disciplined program, but we have clearly not done a good enough job there because it impacted the game.”

During his comments, Kelly pounded his fist on the table.

Most of the crowd in Las Vegas was clad in LSU purple despite Los Angeles-based USC being much closer to Vegas. It was another case of Kelly losing a dedicated but demanding fan base who is quickly growing tired of his antics. At least his flawed predecessor, Ed Orgeron, produced a national championship and was quite likable before he flamed out.

Notre Dame Looks Golden Without Kelly

Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish scored the most impressive win of the weekend under its young, telegenic head coach, Marcus Freeman. Freeman was Kelly’s defensive coordinator before hurriedly being elevated when Kelly walked out on the team. Freeman has gone through growing pains but is popular and likable while projecting an image that the school and fans can be proud of.

With their win at Texas A&M, Notre Dame has the inside track to the CFP. Under Freeman, the Fighting Irish look more athletic, faster, and stronger than they did under Kelly, despite operating under those same academic restrictions.

If Freeman can take Notre Dame to the national championship in his third season, as many other legendary Fighting Irish coaches of the past did, the schadenfreude would be considerable. There would be plenty of justifiable questions as to why Freeman could reach the pinnacle of the sport while working under the same structure that Kelly could not break through with.

Somewhere, the man who walked out on Notre Dame would be pounding his desk in a case of what could have been. 

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