Paul Finebaum: Brian Kelly's Previous Comments on Notre Dame Will 'Haunt Him'

LSU head coach Brian Kelly remains in headlines after his former program, Notre Dame, punched its ticket to the National Championship on Thursday night.

Kelly spent 12 seasons with the Fighting Irish prior to departing South Bend and heading to Baton Rouge in 2022.

The reason for departing Notre Dame: “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship.”

Now, three years after Kelly's departure, Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman has reached the title game and national analysts have chimed in.

During an appearance on The Matt Barrie Show, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum chimed in on Kelly's previous comments:

“My relationship with Brian Kelly is very close. He comes on show every Monday,” Finebaum said. “He’s likable, but he used to be very surly, and when he was at Notre Dame, he was not that likable. He had that 28 point blowout against Alabama in the [2012] national championship game. He had two other inexplicable playoff appearances, and I understand his frustration.

“It’s also, you’ve been in a place for a long time, and it’s just not the same. And to me, he made a good decision, but it’s one of those situations where the words will haunt him. And he said it, not you, not me, about not about going someplace where the resources were, and lost four games this year and he was nowhere near the national championship.

“Having been around a lot of Notre Dame fans this year, I was with them all week in New Orleans a week ago — I mean, they are getting as much joy out of winning as they are rubbing it in Brian Kelly’s face.”

This isn't the only comment Finebaum has made about Kelly and his "awkward" departure from Notre Dame three seasons ago.

Finebaum hopped on ESPN's "Get Up!" on Friday morning where he discussed Kelly and the Fighting Irish's College Football Playoff Semifinal victory.

The first point of emphasis was congratulating Freeman and Co. for knocking off a pair of talented teams throughout their College Football Playoff run.

“Well, I’m going to talk about coach here as well and that’s Marcus Freeman. Just an extraordinary job of bringing them back,” Finebaum said. “I sat here, I was the first one to write them off and say that they’re done. So let me compliment Marcus Freeman.”

But focus quickly shifted to Kelly and his reasoning behind leaving Notre Dame in 2022. Finebaum dove into his thoughts on the past.

“Let me also go back three years to another point in time. Notre Dame hasn’t been in a national championship game since the ’12 season. That’s when Brian Kelly – yes, Brian Kelly – lost by 28 points to Alabama in Miami,” Finebaum said.

“I just couldn’t help but think that Brian Kelly, three years ago, said, ‘I’m leaving Notre Dame because I want to win a national championship and the only place I can do that is LSU!’. And here is Marcus Freeman, who was his assistant briefly, and he’s now brought this team back and so much credit to him and amazing staff. I’ll let my friends here talk about the players that made the difference but it was an amazing thing to watch.”

Now, Notre Dame will face Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes in the National Championship Game on Monday, Jan. 20.

All eyes will be on a pair of head coaches looking to win their first title.

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