Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU in December of 2021. There were a lot of reasons for the move, like playing in the SEC, but there is no denying the fact that money was also a motivating factor.
Apparently, according to the head coach himself, it also came down to the importance of academics. Rather, a lack thereof.
Kelly essentially said that he values the fact how the priority at Louisiana State University is not academics first. He said the quiet part loud.
When Kelly left Notre Dame, it marked the first time in more than 100 years that a sitting head coach left for a different job on his own volition. It sent shockwaves across the college football world.
He ghosted his team, broke up with the Irish over text, met with his former players for less than five minutes and got out of town ASAP. Dan Wolken, unsurprisingly, was angry. Lou Holtz was upset. Brady Quinn called the move desperate.
In the end, Notre Dame got its guy and Kelly won 10 games in his first year in Baton Rouge. Everything has worked out pretty well for both sides thus far— outside of Sunday’s loss to Florida State.
Kelly signed a 10-year, $95 million deal so he’s cashing in win or lose.
Brian Kelly also appreciates the lack of academic athletic emphasis.
While speaking with Chris Low and M.A. Voepel of ESPN, the 61-year-old revealed a new piece of information regarding his decision to leave South Bend. The Irish were basically too focused on building for academics and their priorities did not align with Kelly’s priorities.
That’s not the case at LSU, he says.
I loved my time at Notre Dame. I have nothing but great memories there But the whole landscape there is different than it is here. It just is. There are priorities at Notre Dame. The architectural building needed to get built first. They ain’t building the architectural building here first. We’re building the athletic training facility first, [and] we’re in the midst of a $22 million addition to our athletic training facility.
— Brian Kelly, via ESPN
Perhaps Kelly shouldn’t have said that? He said that the Tigers do not care about the architectural building as much as they do the athletic training facility. Students be damned!
While Kelly’s quote doesn’t come as a surprise, and it may not be a bad thing per se, it seems as though he should’ve kept that one to himself. Some things are better left unsaid…