Brian Kelly is pushing back on the way his exit from Notre Dame has been remembered.
In a recent appearance on Notre Dame podcast The Independent with Matt Fortuna and Pete Sampson, Kelly said his 2022 comments about wanting a place that could win a national championship were taken the wrong way. The longtime Irish coach said the idea that he left because Notre Dame couldn’t get there was not what he meant.
“Well, I think I was mischaracterized, only in the sense that I didn’t leave Notre Dame because they couldn’t win a national championship,” Kelly said. “Those words never came out of my mouth.
What I said is, if I’m gonna leave, I’m going to go to a place that can win a national championship. And that was perceived as being, ‘Oh, he doesn’t think he can win one here.’”
Kelly’s original remarks came in April 2022, when he told the Associated Press, “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship. And I came down here because I want to be in the American League East.”
That line didn’t land well in South Bend, and it was brought back into the conversation when Notre Dame reached the College Football Playoff National Championship for the 2024 season. Kelly, of course, did not coach a Playoff game at LSU.
His run in Baton Rouge never quite matched the expectations that followed him there. Kelly went 34-14 overall at LSU, but the Tigers never won a conference title or made the Playoff during his three full seasons. LSU then let him go midway through Year 4, with the team sitting at 5-3 overall and 2-3 in SEC play.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame has moved on under Marcus Freeman. Since Kelly’s departure, the Irish are 43-12, won three CFP games in 2024, and eventually fell to Ohio State in the national title game.
In Other News...
Brian Kelly Finally Admits The Staff Mistake That Doomed LSU
Brian Kellys reflection on his LSU tenure offered a rare bit of candor about how hard it can be to build a staff the way a coach wants to. He said the early stretch of his time in Baton Rouge was slowed because he could not bring the coordinators he had hoped to have with him from Notre Dame, and he pointed to the defensive side as an area that needed a reset after his second season.
The bigger picture is that Kelly was talking about more than one hire or one scheme. He also acknowledged the challenges that came with elevating Joe Sloan on offense after Mike Denbrock left, a reminder that staff continuity can be just as important as talent on the roster. Meanwhile, the two coaches Kelly once wanted beside him have gone on to build strong reputations elsewhere, which only adds to the what-if feel around how different LSUs arc might have looked. [Read more 🡒]
LSU May Have Found The Receiver Kiffin's Offense Needs Most
LSU goes into the 2026 season without a proven No. 1 wide receiver, but Lane Kiffins arrival has given the Tigers a fresh starting point at the position. The roster now includes a talented receiver group, and one name has already started to separate himself in the conversation because he brings something the offense can use right away: familiarity with Kiffins system.
Winston Watkins, the Ole Miss transfer and sophomore, has a built-in edge after following Kiffin and wide receivers coach George McDonald to Baton Rouge. He also turned heads during spring practice, which only added to the sense that LSU may have found a receiver who can quickly become central to what it wants to do. For a team still sorting out its passing-game hierarchy, that matters, especially with SEC expectations already placing LSU in the upper tier of the league race. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Just Got Hit With A Brutal Recruiting Reality Check
LSUs 2026 recruiting class took a hit in the latest Rivals update, and the timing makes it sting a little more for a program trying to build momentum early in the cycle. Several committed prospects slid in the rankings, while a few others held steady or nudged upward, but the overall takeaway was a class that got downgraded rather than strengthened. For a staff trying to sell progress and star power, that kind of movement changes the conversation fast.
The biggest concern is less about one individual ranking and more about what it says about the class as a whole. LSU still has talent committed and still has time to reshape the board, but the perception around the group has shifted, and those perception swings matter in recruiting. How the Tigers respond from here will say plenty about the urgency and polish of the first-year push on the trail. [Read more 🡒]