Brady Quinn hasn’t minced words since the news broke that Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to become the new coach at LSU.
The former Notre Dame quarterback questioned whether not LSU was “desperate” in paying Kelly so much money to take the job. He’s also offered up his thoughts on who the Irish should have considered as their new coach (before they ended up elevating Marcus Freeman).
Now, Quinn is continuing his verbal attacks on Kelly over the move, calling his move “classless” during an appearance on the “2 Pros and Cup of Joe” show on Fox Sports Radio.
“When I say ego, [I mean] him looking at LSU and saying, ‘I’ve played against them. I know what they can recruit. I know the difference in restrictions that you kind of have or the hurdles you’ve got to jump over at Notre Dame vs. LSU to recruit. I want to try and go win a national championship,'” Quinn told Jonas Knox and LaVar Arrington. “He might feel like he has a better chance there, but the irony of it is, his team could literally be playing for one this year — and really the next two years. They have two top-five recruiting classes right now.
“So, he’s leaving all of that. I think the way he did it was more about his ego and how he feels like he was treated at times maybe at Notre Dame, or in this instance how he was treated, not immediately just someone turning and saying, ‘Hey, let’s write the check so you can stay here in South Bend.’ But I think it had more to do with that.”
Quinn took particular umbrage with the way Kelly left Notre Dame, specifically how it impacted his coaches and players.
“At the end of the day, you don’t leave the way he did. I mean, [assistant coaches are] literally out on the road recruiting, leaving a recruit’s house after this news breaks and having other coaches out there who are on the road recruiting,” Quinn said. “You don’t leave in a classless way like that after becoming the all-time winningest coach, unless there’s more to it, and you want to try to spurn, or you want to try and do this in kind of a conniving way. … This is just a guy walking out, and it’s a classless, classless move.”
We’re guessing Quinn won’t be invited down to Baton Rouge anytime soon. If things go well for Kelly, he might end up eating some crow. However, if Kelly’s era ends without a national title while Freeman succeeds in South Bend, expect Quinn to be the first person lined up to tell Brian “I told you so.”
