LSU head coach Brian Kelly addressed his Notre Dame departure during his appearance at the 2022 SEC Media Days.

In November 2021, Kelly left Notre Dame and became LSU’s next head coach after 12 seasons with the Fighting Irish. When Kelly coached at Notre Dame, he suffered two losses to Alabama in 2012 and 2020. The two losses came up during his time at the SEC Media Days. Kelly said that he did not take the LSU job because of his losses to Alabama (Via On3):

“That wasn’t part of my decision making. Those were really good teams. They both won the national championship. I thought we played Alabama better than anybody in that last playoff,” Kelly said. “Their talent was unbelievable on the offensive side of the ball that year. That wasn’t, ‘Well I’m taking the LSU job. Alabama is so much better than us.’ That was not part of the process for me…It really had nothing to do with the Alabama game.”

Kelly’s Notre Dame teams lost to Alabama in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game and the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal. Kelly remained at Notre Dame for the 2021 season, which was almost one year after his second postseason loss to Alabama.

LSU is scheduled to host Alabama on Nov. 5, 2022.