In a shocking turn of events, Brian Kelly has reportedly left Notre Dame for the head coaching vacancy with LSU football.
Legacy is a powerful fuel to a coach with more years behind than in front. For Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, the allure of winning a national title would be the only carrot that would lead him out of South Bend.
Kelly, 60, became Notre Dame’s all-time winningest coach last season, breaking Knute Rockne’s 90-year-old record. Kelly has the Irish on their best run since the Lou Holtz era, winning 10 or more games five consecutive seasons, making the College Football Playoff twice.
Quite frankly, Kelly has done everything he can at Notre Dame except win a National Title. Kelly’s success has fueled rumors of leaving South Bend for the NFL for years. Various sources say that LSU is “aggressively pushing” to hire him as its next head coach.
Yahoo! Sports writer Pete Thamel first reported this possible hire:
Sources: LSU is expecting to hire Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly as the school’s next head coach. An announcement could come as early as tomorrow.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 30, 2021
First, nothing is done until it is done. A lot can happen before tomorrow comes. That said, why would Kelly leave Notre Dame? The answer is simple; Kelly does not think he can win a national title in South Bend. He might be right.
Brian Kelly’s record has not been great against the elite of college football. Notre Dame is 3-8 against the top 10 under Kelly with some embarrassingly bad losses. The Irish lost to Alabama 42-14 in their only BCS appearance. Notre Dame has not been competitive in either of their College Football Playoff appearances either.
The Irish lost 30-3 in the 2018 Cotton Bowl and 31-14 in the 2021 Rose Bowl. Though Notre Dame defeated Clemson in their only season in a conference, they fell 34-10 in the ACC Championship Game with a returning Trevor Lawerence.
If there is one criticism of Kelly, he has never been able to recruit the transformational quarterback to elevate the talent on the team. Notre Dame can’t recruit enough blue-chip players to balance the talent on the field.
None of this is a knock on Kelly or Notre Dame, but the Irish are a team that can get there.
Enter the LSU Tigers.
LSU is arguably the best job in college football. It is the state university of Louisiana, and the state is not just passionate about football; they are passionate about LSU football. In Baton Rouge, Kelly can recruit in ways he cannot recruit at Notre Dame and will have every advantage he does not have in South Bend.
Keep in mind that Les Miles and Ed Orgeron both won a natty at LSU; Kelly is an exponentially better football coach than Miles and Orgeron.
LSU is a high-risk job, and Kelly is not likely to be there for a decade, but all he needs is one season to win a title; that might just be too much of a temptation to pass.