Brian Kelly cites divergent paths as rationale for leaving Notre Dame for LSU

After previously providing only cryptic answers as to why exactly he left, LSU head coach Brian Kelly is opening up about his abrupt departure from Notre Dame. And, boy, did he open.

In two interviews with Ralph Russo of the Associated Press and Dennis Dodd of CBS, Kelly provided a deep dive into the rationale for making one of the most — if not the most — surprising coaching moves of an oft-crazy coaching carousel.

“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 went 113-40 over 12 seasons at the helm in South Bend with a 2012 BCS National Championship appearance and two College Football Playoff appearances in 2018 and 2020.

Not on the same page? What exactly does he mean? Well, several things.

Per Russo, Kelly was pushing for a facility to replace the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, known as “The Gug” at Notre Dame. The 96,000-square-foot complex, which opened in 2005, houses the football team’s practice locker rooms, coaches’ offices and sports medicine and equipment rooms for all Irish student-athletes.

Additionally, Kelly wanted a chef for his team. LSU has a Performance Nutrition Center, which Kelly signaled is more along the lines of what he wanted at Notre Dame. The request for a football-only chef had been approved by Notre Dame, but the larger facilities asks couldn’t happen overnight.

“That building had been built not to service those areas,” Kelly told Dodd. “That wasn’t the vision the university had. I don’t have a problem with that. They had built that building to meet and locker and that’s it. We had outgrown that. I had asked for that to be addressed in 2016, and we were at 2022.”

Thus, Kelly left the team, despite its contention for a third College Football Playoff bid in four years.

“I felt like that what I was looking for was student-athlete centered,” Kelly said. “And I was pushing for more for the student-athlete. And I wanted to see that piece. And we didn’t seem to be on the same path as to how that was going to get accomplished.”

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Kelly claims his representatives made his requests clear in the waning hours of his 12-year Irish tenure as LSU swooped in to try to lure the winningest coach in Notre Dame history away from South Bend. He also told Dodd he spoke with Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who told him he’d be “crazy” not to take the new 10-year, $95 million gig.

Irish athletic director Jack Swarbrick declined to comment to either outlet, but he has made clear in the past that Notre Dame is looking to upgrade its athletic facilities. Notre Dame opened the 111,000-square-foot Irish Athletic Center in 2019.

Recruiting element in play too

Kelly discussed with Russo another topic Swarbrick could not possibly make happen, even if he had all of the money in the world. But it’s also what makes Notre Dame unlike any other high-level football program in the nation.

Notre Dame relies on national recruiting. It’s part of the reason the school remains independent in football. It’s part of the reason the Irish play in California every year and make frequent stops to cities like New York City, Chicago and Dallas.

To illustrate the difference, look no further than Notre Dame and LSU’s 2021 classes. The final class Kelly signed in South Bend was from an average of 832.6 miles away from Notre Dame. An average. The Tigers’ 2021 class posted an average distance from Baton Rouge of 338.8 miles. Amongst the top-10 classes in the On3 Consensus Team Rankings, that ranked third-closest behind Miami and Georgia.

Notre Dame is not Notre Dame without recruiting nationally, though it comes with a trade-off that Kelly sounded less than enthused about in hindsight.

“I’m gone for six weeks at Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “From L.A. to New Jersey to Texas to wherever.”

In Baton Rouge, the in-state talent is more abundant. Kelly, who now owns a Tesla Model X Plaid that can go 130 miles per hour, can do a larger portion of his job close to home.

Finally, the first-year Tigers coach claims he harbors no ill will toward those who play under the shadow of the Golden Dome.

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