Politician Brian Kelly Steps in it Again Regarding Notre Dame

Before getting into coaching, Brian Kelly tried a career in politics.

All these decades later and even after all the games Kelly has won at different places and levels, that political side still tends to come out.

And if you're like me at all, you really don't think very highly of most politicians.

Brian Kelly Starts Image Campaign to Get Back Into Coaching

Kelly, of course, left Notre Dame for LSU following the 2021 regular season, when the Fighting Irish still had a chance at making the College Football Playoff.

He last three-and-a-half years at LSU before being fired last season, and despite the massive payout that came with it, still wants to coach.

Kelly joined Dusty Dvoracek and Danny Kanell on SiriusXM this week, and plenty of items came up. We'll focus on what the former Notre Dame coach had to say about how things ended in South Bend, though.

Brian Kelly on Leaving Notre Dame

Kelly was asked about how he left Notre Dame, and like any good politician, he focused on the positives he did while pretending the bad never existed.

"It's hard. I mean, we had just finished building our dream home. My wife and I, you could walk out our home and look at the Golden Dome. We tore down an apartment complex to build this beautiful home. We had no intentions of leaving Notre Dame. I was the longest, and still am the longest serving head coach all time, winningest coach. We had no idea that this was going to come upon us, or we wouldn't have done those things."

What a flex, if that's what you want to call it.

"We tore down an apartment complex..."

He talks about those things he and his family did, but avoids actually talking about the action he made to leave for LSU, even later in his response.

Brian Kelly on Bringing Notre Dame Back

"I think what the ultimate decision was for us is that we got the program back to where it needed to be. Our deal coming in was we need to get this program back to being an elite program. Everybody associates success with winning national championships or winning Super Bowls or wheelchairs. I get that. I totally get that. But that wasn't our mindset. Our mindset was to get this program back and be a consistent force in college football. And so in some instances, we felt like our job had been completed, and we had one more challenge left and that, and that was to win a national championship. And so that's kind of what the mindset was. You know, leading into that decision."

As I've said countless times, Brian Kelly did a ton to save Notre Dame football at what was an awful time. Winning more than six games a year had become far too challenging of a task, and Kelly changed that.

There were early struggles and 2016 saw the Irish go just 4-8, but from 2017 on the team was in contention for the College Football Playoff.

"We had no intentions of leaving Notre Dame."

Brian Kelly reflects on the difficult decision to leave Notre Dame for LSU in 2021 with @DustyDvoracek & @dannykanell. pic.twitter.com/rkWXzglN9O
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) March 10, 2026

But here's the thing.

Notre Dame was never actually contending for a national championship under Brian Kelly, and it would have remained short of doing so had he stayed.

The level of talent Notre Dame has been able to bring in since Kelly left speaks to his recruiting shortcomings that occurred regularly.

Notre Dame was good enough to get to the College Football Playoff under his watch, but it was nowhere near good enough to compete with the elites once it did.

Marcus Freeman is a Godsend for Notre Dame Football

Kelly took Notre Dame back to national prominence, but there was still a lot of work to do. It went from consistant underachiever to a regularly contending Playoff team, even in the days of there being just four playoff teams.

However, it went as far as it was going to go under Brian Kelly. Without saying exactly that, Kelly pretty much said that in the video above.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman after winning the Orange Bow — (EDITORS NOTE: caption correction) Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates after defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Marcus Freeman took the opportunity and kicked down the door. Freeman elevated recruiting and won more big games in the 2024 season alone than Kelly won in 12 seasons.

Notre Dame was never going to win it all under Brian Kelly, something Notre Dame fans mostly became aware of.

It may not win one under Marcus Freeman either, but there is no question whatsoever that Freeman has found a level for Notre Dame football that wasn't possible under Kelly.

Oh, and one more thing: did Dvoracek and Kanell ask Kelly about his golf game at all?