Tommy Rees details final days with Brian Kelly before departure to LSU

The decision for former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly to depart South Bend for LSU was a confusing time for nearly everyone. Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees was not spared from the turmoil.

On Friday’s episode of “The Ryen Russillo Podcast,” Rees joined Russillo and detailed his time spent with Kelly leading up to the departure for the Southeast. 

It all started while the coaching staff was still in California after beating Stanford on Nov. 27. Notre Dame always finishes the year on the West Coast against either the Cardinal or USC, and the coaches stay in the state for a couple of days to recruit. Before they went out on the recruiting trail, Kelly, Rees and a few other members of the staff stayed in the Bay Area to play golf on Sunday.

“I was in his group,” Rees said. “I was with him from nine o’clock in the morning until 11 o’clock at night that Sunday. There wasn’t a word about it. There was some rumblings and my agent texted me saying, ‘Hey, you know, have you heard anything?’ I’m like, ’I’ve been with him all day. Not a word.’ We’re at the turn, all the news about SC and Lincoln Riley was breaking. And like looking back on just like the timeline of things, and like some conversations, I probably could have put it together. But I wasn’t there.”

Their evening concluded with a dinner, and Rees still did not have an inkling that in approximately 24 hours, Notre Dame would need a new head coach. 

Turning to the following day, Monday, Nov. 29, Rees said things started to feel “off.”

“There was a stop that wasn’t made that was supposed to be made,” Rees said. “We finished at a kid’s house, and that’s when everything started happening. That’s when the news started breaking online. I was in a car with him and two other coaches, and that’s when it started coming. And at first he kind of shrugged it off.”

Monday afternoon, rumors began to circulate that LSU was interested in Kelly. At the time, the interest from Baton Rouge was not surprising. Kelly is the winningest active coach in NCAA football and became the winningest coach in the history of Notre Dame in September. However, many at the time believed the interest was not mutual.

“As the night went on, we got to the plane, we got to the FBO, he stepped outside, he was on the phone,” Rees added. “I think that was the final agreement because after that he came on the plane and told us what his plans were. That he was going to drop us off in Orange County, and then he was headed back to South Bend.”

Rees later detailed Kelly left the West Coast around 9:00 p.m. PT. South Bend is three hours ahead of California, so Kelly likely did not get back until around sunrise.

The 29-year-old offensive coordinator said he was in shock, but he found out quickly that he would have a job. Somewhere.

“I found out very shortly after like, hey, I’m going to have a job at LSU,” Rees said. “I knew I was safe, right? Because at that moment you don’t know. Do you have a job at Notre Dame? That’s completely up in the air.

“And the hardest part is probably the assistant coaches that just don’t know if they’re gonna have a job at LSU, they’re going to keep a job at Notre Dame. They’re in complete limbo. But for me, I knew I was secure. So I was okay. I was on a plane with a couple other guys that weren’t in the same boat. So it was a very awkward plane ride.”