Brian Kelly would’ve been better off just not meeting with his former players at all.
The 12-year Notre Dame college football head coach bolted for the Louisiana State University this week to replace Ed Orgeron, who agreed with LSU in October to part ways following this season.
The decision appeared to blindside both his current players at Notre Dame and members of his staff. Kelly opted to inform his team over his departure late Monday night local time via a text message, according to an image obtained by The Athletic.
On Tuesday, he did just that, but it did not go how the players and staff might have liked. Kelly reportedly stayed for two minutes before walking out and not taking questions from his former players.
“Multiple sources indicated that Brian Kelly’s address to the team on Tuesday morning lasted less than two minutes, then he turned around and walked out. He did not take questions from the players.”
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Kelly promised to provide a full explanation in his text and he certainly did not do that in two minutes.
The ramifications of Kelly’s decision reached his assistants, some of which were busy with recruits at the time and only heard about the decision from the news and social media:
“The news broke when I walked out of the house, so I look like a f*ing ahole,” one assistant told The Athletic.
Kelly shot down the idea of leaving just one week ago.
“No. I mean, look, I think Mike Tomlin had the best line, right? Unless that fairy godmother comes by with that $250 million check, my wife would want to take a look at it first,” Kelly told reporters. “I’d have to run it by her.”
