Brian Kelly’s departure from Notre Dame may have happened years ago, but the fallout still hangs in the air - and now Kelly is talking about the program he left behind in a very different tone.
The line that helped define the split came in 2021, when Kelly texted his former players to say he was leaving. “Men ... let me first apologize for the late-night text and, more importantly, for not being able to share the news with you in person that I will be leaving Notre Dame,” then-Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly wrote to his players at the time via Pete Sampson of The Athletic. “My love for you is limitless and I am so proud of all that you have accomplished.”
By then, the damage was already done. Kelly was headed to LSU, his standing with Notre Dame fans was badly damaged, and Marcus Freeman - the coach Kelly had brought in from Cincinnati in Jan. `21 - eventually became the face of the program after leading the Fighting Irish to the national championship game in 2024.
On Tuesday, Kelly spoke with Sampson as he looks ahead to a season away from coaching after LSU fired him in 2025. In that conversation, he offered a clear endorsement of Freeman and the job he has done in South Bend.
“It’s extraordinary that a football coach with no head coaching experience has been able to step in the job and do as well as Marcus has,” Kelly said. “I think that that needs to be said. I had 19 years of being a head coach, and I felt like the water is up to my nose at times at Notre Dame.”
Kelly also pushed back on the way his April 2022 comments were interpreted. At the time, he told Ralph D. Russo, then with the AP, that he “(wanted) to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship.”
Speaking on The Independent podcast with Sampson and Matt Fortuna, Kelly said those remarks were “mischaracterized.”
“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 going to leave, I'm going to go to a place that can win a national championship.”
He also said he would welcome a return to South Bend in a visible way, not as someone trying to second-guess what Freeman is doing.
“It’s important for me to let them know that I’m supporting and I want to support the program and I want that out there and I want to be visible for a day,” Kelly said of a potential return to South Bend, Ind. “I’m not in there to look at what they’re running offensively or defensively, but I just want to show that I have 100% faith and confidence in what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, not that they need me to validate in any way.”
Sampson’s reporting also floated a few possibilities for Kelly’s next move: another head-coaching job at a school a step down from LSU and Notre Dame, an assistant role, or even a media position.
Each would come with its own twist. Kelly has not coached anywhere other than LSU or Notre Dame since 2009, he hasn’t served as an assistant since he was helming Grand Valley State’s defense in 1990, and he has never exactly been known as a natural media personality.
Still, the résumé is hard to ignore. Kelly owns a 200-76 career record in FBS, a mark that ranks among the top 50 all-time by winning percentage. However this next chapter unfolds, it doesn’t feel like the last time Brian Kelly will be part of the conversation.
In Other News...
ACC Finally Changed The Rule Notre Dame Fans Hated Last Year
The ACC has finally tweaked the championship-game tiebreaker setup, a move that should sound familiar and welcome to Notre Dame fans who were frustrated by how convoluted last years process became. Head-to-head matchups still sit at the top of the chain, but the league is also trying to make the system cleaner and more in step with how the College Football Playoff evaluates teams.
One of the more notable changes is the addition of the Team Success Ranking by Sport Source Analytics as the third tiebreaker, giving the conference another data point before things get too tangled. The ACC is also accounting for the fact that teams will not all play the same number of conference games under the new scheduling model, so nobody is unfairly helped or hurt by an eight-game slate versus a nine-game one. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Freeman Just Gave Notre Dame A Massive Portal Boost
Marcus Freeman has given Notre Dame a significant boost for the 2026 roster by adding four transfer portal players who address some immediate needs on both sides of the ball. Defensive tackles Tionne Gray and Francis Brewu bring the kind of size and strength the Irish want up front, while wide receiver Quincy Porter and defensive end Keon Keeley add more help to a group trying to keep pace with championship expectations.
The mix is important because Notre Dame is not just chasing depth, it is trying to plug holes with players who can matter right away. Brewu also brings a familiar connection to South Bend through defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, and Porter arrives with the kind of upside the offense can use if he stays on the field. For Freeman, the portal haul is less about long-term development and more about making sure the roster is ready now. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame May Be Losing A Chicago Battle It Should Win
Brayden Parks is the kind of Chicago recruit Notre Dame usually expects to have a real shot at, especially with a four-star defensive lineman from the city weighing the Irish alongside Oregon and other schools. The fit is obvious on paper: a major program, a strong defensive tradition, and a campus close enough to home that his family can see the appeal without much explanation.
Still, this recruitment has started to feel less straightforward for Notre Dame than it once did. Parks remains in the mix, and the Irish can lean on the comfort factor of staying relatively nearby, but the decision now seems to carry a bigger question about whether he wants the familiar path or something that feels more like carving out his own route elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]