Brian Kelly says his comments about leaving Notre Dame were ‘mischaracterized’
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Brian Kelly memorably said that the opportunity to win a national championship was a factor in his decision to leave Notre Dame for LSU. In a recent appearance on a Notre Dame podcast, Kelly said his words were “mischaracterized” in terms of how he viewed the Irish as championship contenders.
In April 2022, Kelly told the Associated Press, “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship. And I came down here because I want to be in the American League East.”
As one might expect, Kelly’s comments weren’t well received back in South Bend. They were predictably revisited when Notre Dame reached the College Football Playoff National Championship for the 2024 season. Kelly did not coach a Playoff game at LSU.
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Kelly recently appeared on Matt Fortuna and Pete Sampson’s Notre Dame podcast, The Independent. Kelly says the implication that he couldn’t win a national championship at Notre Dame is a “mischaracterization” of his 2022 comments.
“Well, I think I was mischaracterized, only in the sense that I didn’t leave Notre Dame because they couldn’t win a national championship,” Kelly said. “Those words never came out of my mouth. What I said is, if I’m gonna leave, I’m going to go to a place that can win a national championship. And that was perceived as being, ‘Oh, he doesn’t think he can win one here.’”
Kelly’s LSU tenure did not go as he expected. While his overall record of 34-14 was solid, the Tigers did not win a conference title or reach the Playoff in his 3 full seasons. LSU dismissed Kelly midway through Year 4 when the Tigers were 5-3 overall and 2-3 in SEC play.
Notre Dame is 43-12 under Marcus Freeman following Kelly’s departure. The Irish won 3 CFP contests in 2024 before falling to Ohio State in the national title game.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
