Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540994
62 NOV. 8, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED T he tantalizing hypothetical buried underneath the fallen sky in Baton Rouge, La., this past week is: What would Notre Dame football look like to- day if Brian Kelly had stayed? It's also way more pragmatic than continuing to take inventory of the vices and virtues of the man and his 34-14 bottom line purged by LSU Oct. 26, a day after his 64th birthday, less than four seasons into his 10-year contract as that program's head football coach and presumed redeemer. That his successor, elevated defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, didn't be- come Brian Kelly 2.0, in a sense, in per- petuating and building upon the Irish football renaissance that Kelly started, is telling. But even more so was this part of the response the current fourth-year Irish head coach delivered Oct. 27 at his weekly Monday press conference when asked about Kelly's purge and the state of college football in general with so many in-season firings. "I've said this previously," Freeman began, "but it's a reminder to be grateful for what you have. If you're not grate- ful for what you have, you'll find a way to lose it. And I'm not talking about a coach, I'm talking about in life. "Every time you hear some of these things, it's a reminder of the gratitude I have for this opportunity at this place, with the people I get to work with, the players I get to be involved with. I'm grateful." Kelly once felt that way about Notre Dame. When he was hired to replace Charlie Weis in December 2009 in what would turn out to be a 12-year run. And, just as palpably, during a philosophi- cal reboot following the Irish's 4-8 lost season in 2016. At that time, I defended Kelly and Notre Dame's decision to retain him in large part because of the way his long track record of success and turn- ing points married with what was then an unflinching, sincere belief that the Fighting Irish could win a national championship … again. And then I saw for myself that blue- print coming to life while spending a day with him during the offseason ahead of a bounce-back 2017 season. Even as my newspaper at the time, the South Bend Tribune, ran a full- page ad from a group that wanted to get rid of Kelly and athletics director Jack Swarbrick. Believe me, in my business, it's easier to run with the crowd car- rying the pitchforks and the torches. But if you do so without conviction, then you're betraying yourself and your readers. And if that 2016-into-2017 version of Kelly is the one that got pushed out the door at LSU — with his athletics direc- tor, Scott Woodward, getting similar treatment days later — I'd feel pretty good about the next coaching chapter for Kelly. If there is one. I know when he and I used to talk dur- ing his later years at Notre Dame, Kelly had no plans to be still coaching in 2026, but he wanted to be connected to the game in some way when coaching was over. And maybe a year off — TV maybe? — is the best lane to push forward in to figure out what that should look like. But the guy who I saw at LSU out of the corner of my eye for the past four years — and too often in unflattering memes — isn't the Brian Kelly that helped put the Notre Dame program in a place where it could eventually hire someone as talented as Freeman but with no previous head coaching experience. Even less recognizable was the Kelly who decided to feed the narrative on his way out, just after Thanksgiving in 2021, that he was leaving Notre Dame for a reality where winning a national title would be an eventuality. Worse yet, in a cold, sterile, five-min- ute meeting with the players who he was leaving behind, Kelly said the same thing, and as if he were reading off a teleprompter. So, it's not so much that he left. It's how. And if you don't think it's possible that there's a right way to do it, Google how former Notre Dame baseball coach Link Jarrett finessed, with class and in- tegrity, getting courted by his alma ma- ter, Florida State, during Notre Dame's historic run in the College World Series. And eventually taking that job. One of the greatest misconceptions about the coaching greats is that they have all the answers. The reality is they ask the right questions and continue to do so. College football is an evolution- ary sport, inside and outside the white lines. And Kelly was at his best when he embraced a commitment to doing just that. But somewhere along the line, late in his 12-year run of piling up the most wins in an Irish coaching tenure, Kelly stopped being a fit at a place that he once considered a dream job. And be- came even less of a fit when chasing ego and a bigger paycheck. History may end up being kinder to Kelly in how it frames who he was as a coach at Notre Dame than the one that the present has picked out for him. But here's how I'll remember his time: Notre Dame was indeed better off for Kelly having come to South Bend. And now better off without him. ✦ Kelly was fired by LSU after posting a four-year record of 34-14. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER The Rise, Fall And Reframing Of Brian Kelly's Story Eric Hansen covers Notre Dame athletics for On3, with a focus on Irish football. He can be reached on X @ EHansenND THE DEEP READ ERIC HANSEN