Brian Kelly reveals reasoning behind leaving Notre Dame, taking LSU job

Brian Kelly’s departure from Notre Dame for LSU shook up the college football coaching carousel this offsaeson. He opened up about why he made the move in an interview with the Associated Press’ Ralph D. Russo this week.

Kelly helped the Fighting Irish to the No. 5 spot in the final College Football Playoff rankings, just missing out on the top four. But before the final rankings came out — and as Notre Dame was waiting to find out if it’d make the CFP — Kelly took the LSU job. It was interesting timing, but he shared a telling reason for the move.

“I felt like I did everything that I could at Notre Dame and they felt like they did everything they could for me,” Kelly told Russo. “I felt like we had both got to a point where this is what they could do, right? This is what I did. And we couldn’t get past that. OK? And so here we are.”

Kelly took Notre Dame to the CFP in 2018 and 2020, but didn’t win a game either year. He had the Fighting Irish in position to make it in this past year, but they ended up just missing out as Cincinnati took the No. 4 ranking. Notre Dame ended up playing in the Fiesta Bowl in an eventual loss to Oklahoma State on New Year’s Day.

Overall, Kelly had 113 wins at Notre Dame — 21 of which were vacated by the NCAA, but are still recognized by the program — to become the winningest coach in program history. He said he appreciated his 12 years in South Bend, but it was time for a change.

“I loved my time at Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “We were on different paths and that’s fine. I’m fine with that.”

Now, Kelly is getting ready for his first season in Baton Rouge while Marcus Freeman takes over the Notre Dame program.