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Shane Gillis jokes about a lot of things because, well, he’s a comedian and all.
But the 37-year-old Notre Dame fan was being serious on Monday during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show when talking about former Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly. While Gillis spoke very highly of current Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman — because what Irish fan wouldn’t right now with Freeman having Notre Dame 1 win away from a national title — he had something altogether different to say about Kelly, who left South Bend after the 2021 season after being the Irish head coach since 2010.
“He went to LSU, and he’s gonna ruin that program,” said Gillis.
Kelly did lead Notre Dame to a national title game appearance in 2012 and to the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2018 and 2020. But each time, Kelly’s teams were beaten soundly, leaving a bad taste in Irish fans’ mouths when he opted to bolt to Baton Rouge instead of sticking it out in South Bend.
As for Freeman, Gillis said: “Marcus is the man. He’s awesome. He’s the nicest, coolest guy.”
If Freeman can somehow lead the Fighting Irish past Ohio State on Monday night, then he’ll have done something at Notre Dame that Kelly got close to 3 times but couldn’t accomplish.
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.