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Brian Kelly says he’s pulling for Notre Dame against Ohio State, addresses exit

Cory Nightingale

By Cory Nightingale

Published:

Brian Kelly often gets shade on social media whenever Notre Dame wins a big game, which these days has been quite often.

With the Fighting Irish in the national championship game next Monday night against Ohio State, the venom toward Kelly from Notre Dame fans has reached a peak. Many of the Irish fans are still angry at the way Kelly left Notre Dame after the 2021 regular season. They believed he still had unfinished business there, like finally winning that national title that he had come so close to bringing to South Bend.

Kelly led the Fighting Irish to the title game during the 2012 season, then had Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2018 and 2020. The Irish fell short all 3 times, of course, but in many fans’ eyes, it was Kelly who fell short. Then he suddenly bolted for LSU, and that made things worse.

But, contrary to what some might believe, Kelly isn’t pulling against Notre Dame on Monday night. Not only is he rooting for the Irish, he truly believes they can beat the favored Buckeyes.

“I’m happy for all those guys, I pull for them,” Kelly told CBS Sports on Tuesday after an American Football Coaches Association meeting in Charlotte. “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 Kelly left Notre Dame for the SEC, his infamous comment about wanting to go somewhere where he had “the resources to win a national championship” made a title-hungry fan base in South Bend very angry. But Kelly believes fans and media misinterpreted what he really meant.

“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,” explained Kelly on Tuesday.

Kelly chose Baton Rouge and another fervent fan base, Notre Dame hired Marcus Freeman and now we’ll see which head coach wins a national title first. Right now, less than a week from the championship game, Freeman has the inside track on that.

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.

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