With Notre Dame standing one win away from a national championship, some college football fans have been taking shots at former Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly.
After Notre Dame earned a spot in the CFP Championship Game, Kelly got roasted on social media. Kelly coached 12 seasons at Notre Dame with great success, going 113-40. But he left after the 2021 regular season for LSU, saying, “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship.”
That comment has fueled plenty of memes poking fun at Kelly in recent days.
Kelly has gone 29-11 in three seasons at LSU, but the Tigers haven’t made the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, third-year head coach Marcus Freeman is eyeing a national title.
The veteran coach told CBS Sports Tuesday he’s pulling for Notre Dame, saying, “I’m happy for all those guys, I pull for them.” But he took the opportunity to say his remarks when he left Notre Dame were misinterpreted by fans and the media.
“They’re selling it the way they want to sell it,” Kelly told CBS Sports. “Why do you leave Notre Dame? You leave Notre Dame because you’re taking another challenge. I took Notre Dame to championships. It’s just the way you want to twist it: ‘You leave Notre Dame to go win a championship.’ I wasn’t leaving Notre Dame because I couldn’t win a championship. You can win championships at Notre Dame, but I chose another path because I wanted a different challenge.”
Looking back at Kelly’s statement in 2022, “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship,” his intent there seems crystal clear. You can blame people for twisting that out of context, but that is a very concise statement; Kelly felt he did not have the resources at Notre Dame to win a championship.
And Kelly said more at that time, indicating he was not happy with the progress on a new football facility at Notre Dame. “I felt like we both got to a point where this is what they could do, right?” he said in April 2022.
Now, Kelly feels he was misinterpreted. Fans on social media are not buying that explanation.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.