Brian Kelly shook up college football on Monday when he left Notre Dame after ten years to become the new head coach of the LSU Tigers.
Lots of people have had something to say about the decision. Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn wondered why Kelly would think this was a better option. Current Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick seems to have seen the writing on the wall and wasn’t too surprised. Plenty of people around college football are concerned about how it impact’s the Irish’s chances of making the College Football Playoff.
Kelly called in to The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday to discuss the move. Kelly spoke at length about why he decided to make the career shift and how the last week has played out for him. Patrick also asked him about the status of his Notre Dame assistant coaches. It’s been reported that Kelly wants offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to follow him to Baton Rouge. Freeman is a hot commodity who could also be up for the Notre Dame head coaching job.
Kelly was diplomatic in his response but clear that he’s hoping to get at least some of his trusted assistants to join him.
"They're employees right now at #NotreDame and we have to be sensitive to that fact. Would I love to have some of those guys join me here? Absolutely, but we have to go through the right process."
-Brian Kelly on the status of his assistants at #NotreDame#FightingIrish pic.twitter.com/xz09hv75xa
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) December 1, 2021
“We’re gonna hire the best coaches,” said Kelly. “I had great coaches at Notre Dame. We can hire great coaches here at LSU. They’re employed right now at Notre Dame and we have to be sensitive to that fact. Would I love to have some of those guys join me here? Absolutely, but we have to go through the right process. That’s gonna be a fluid situation.”
Patrick asked if Kelly has some kind of arrangement not to take Notre Dame assistants with him as part of the move.
“No. No. I mean, look, at the end of the day, you’re not gonna do something that is morally or ethically not sound,” said Kelly. “You’re gonna work with the university that you just left. Like I said, there’s good coaches here that I want to talk to. There’s certainly great coaches that I worked with at Notre Dame. But we’re gonna do it the right way.”
It certainly sounds like Kelly would love to have some of his assistants follow him. However, something tells us that he’ll have no problem attracting top talent to LSU if they don’t follow.
