Brian Kelly Somehow Misses the Mark with Notre Dame Yet Again

It's hard to believe but this fall will be the fifth season of Notre Dame football since Brian Kelly up and left for LSU.

Fortunately, for Notre Dame, Kelly was able to help bring then-defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to South Bend from Cincinnati, as Freeman would replace the all-time winningest coach in program history by that season's end.

Now, the tables have turned and Kelly is on the outside of the coaching world looking in, as he was fired midway through last season at LSU, and will work as an analyst for CBS Sports this fall.

Kelly joined Pete Sampson and Matt Fortuna on The Independent podcast (see below) Tuesday, and shared some of his thoughts about Notre Dame, and hoping to return one day. You can watch the full podcast video below, or check out some of Kelly's quote as well.

Brian Kelly on Supporting Notre Dame Today

"I want to support the program. I want that out there. And I want to be visible for a day. I'm not in there to look at what they're running offensively or defensively. I just want to show that I have 100 percent faith and confidence in what they're doing and how they're doing it.

"I want our fans to know, the Notre Dame fans, that I'm 100 percent supporting what they're doing and how they're doing it."

Brian Kelly on Notre Dame's Ability to Win a National Championship

"I didn't leave Notre Dame because they couldn't win a national championship. Those words never came out of my mouth.

"What I said was if I'm going to 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.'

"So, look, I think we all know this, dipping my toe into the media a little bit, there is never a great time. The timing stinks. And it stinks mostly for the players, but it's not easy on the coaches either."

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Maybe it's me getting older, maybe its me maturing a bit, or maybe it's just too much time in the sun talking, but as a lifelong Notre Dame fan, I don't feel the same disdain for Brian Kelly today that I did not all that long ago.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly in 201 — Apr 21, 2018; Notre Dame, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly walks to the locker room before the of the Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If the idea of him was even floated of ever returning to Notre Dame for anything other than a funeral or his child's graduation, I probably would have flipped my lid.

At this point though, Brian Kelly doesn't matter.

He may want to show his support to Freeman and company and that's fine for him to want that, but who is it serving?

The way his quote reads is like a politician asking someone to take a picture of him handing out supplies to a disaster victim.

"Hey, make sure everyone sees how supportive I am!"

It's more of the same from Kelly, who has never come across as having a sincere bone in his body.

At the start of today, had I been asked about Brian Kelly one day returning to Notre Dame and whatever comes with it, my thought would have been "yeah that's fine, I suppose".

But after watching that, I'm back to hoping that day is still a long time away.

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