Brian Kelly had built a solid football program at Notre Dame. But when he left for LSU in 2021, it left a bitter distaste amongst the Fighting Irish fans. Nevertheless, Notre Dame fared well without Kelly, with Marcus Freeman elevating the expectations. On the other hand, Kelly’s tenure in Baton Rouge didn’t last long as he was fired after a 5-3 start and no shot at making the playoffs.
On Friday, Kelly appeared on SiriusXM College Sports Radio, stating that he had “no intentions” of leaving Notre Dame. In fact, he said that he was close to building a new home at Notre Dame so that people could see his home’s Golden Dome from the college’s yard.
“It’s hard. My wife and I had just finished building our dream home,” Kelly said. “You could walk out of the house and look at the Golden Dome. We tore down an apartment complex to build this beautiful home. We had no intentions of leaving Notre Dame.”
But Notre Dame fans were not convinced. Following Kelly’s statement, one fan wrote,
“His favorite song: “Me, We, I”
He was never consistent. He made excuses and loved Golf more than he loved building young men.
He is NOT the winningest coach — he had 21 victories vacated and the schedule was intentionally watered down.
He was the LOSINGEST coach, however.”
Another fan said,
“Most losses also—ND fandom was happy to see you move on so Marcus could shop down those other aisles!”
This fan wrote,
“Can’t believe he really said his ultimate goal wasn’t a championship but instead sustained consistent good football, not a championship, instead just being mentioned as a top 10 team…”
Another fan added,
“🤡. Notre Dame might have had cpl decent yrs under Kelly, but they were not elite. Even when they did have a good yr and make a playoff they got dog walked. Marcus Freeman has them closer to elite then Kelly did. Kelly did turn things around and won lot of games, i give him that.:
This fan said,
“Thank God he left.”
Brian Kelly’s departure from Notre Dame in 2021 is still one of the most surprising exits from a college football coach. During his tenure, the Fighting Irish were 11-1 and had a path to the four-team College Football Playoff depending on results during championship weekend.
Why Was Brian Kelly Fired From LSU?
Brian Kelly had arrived in Baton Rouge with clear hopes of winning a national championship. But that wasn’t the case. His predecessors, Ed Orgeron, Les Miles, and Nick Saban, had all won titles by the end of their tenures as the head coach. Though Kelly had an even better credential than Saban, he still couldn’t live up to the expectations.
Under Kelly, the Tigers had a 5-3 start last season, which led to his firing in October 2025. The tipping point came during a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M in which the stands started getting empty by the fourth quarter. Two days later, Kelly was announced to be fired by the Tigers.
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