Brian Kelly Spoke With Notre Dame's Team for Nearly Four Minutes Before Leaving Program

LSU announced Brian Kelly as its new head coach with a 10-year, $95 million contract on Tuesday.

Brian Kelly briefly met with the Notre Dame football team on Tuesday morning before leaving the program.

Originally, according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Kelly met with the team for 11 minutes, while The Athletic's Pete Sampson later reported that the meeting was closer to two minutes.

But on Wednesday, video leaked of Kelly's farewell to players showing him speaking to players for just under four minutes as Kelly didn't stop to take questions from players.

After reportedly texting the team on Monday night regarding his departure for LSU, Kelly held the meeting at 7 a.m. in the university's football facility before leaving campus. 

That didn’t last long. That was Brian Kelly driving away in the blue Mercedes SUV. He appears to be outta here. pic.twitter.com/1YhgEPpRcy

— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 30, 2021

"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," Kelly wrote to players on Monday. "Our program is elite because of your hard work and commitment and I know that will continue. I will share more in the morning when we meet."

News broke on Monday night that Kelly would leave Notre Dame after 11 years. LSU officially confirmed the news Tuesday morning, announcing a 10-year contract worth $95 million.

On Tuesday, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick also said Kelly did not give the university a chance to match LSU's offer. 

"He did not discuss with me the conversations he had with other universities," Swarbrick said. "We are always talking about the program's needs. There was nothing identified at any time that was something we could not meet."

Swarbrick also said the program won't rush to appoint an interim coach and may try a different approach to a temporary coach since Kelly won't be coaching the bowl game. 

Fore more Notre Dame news, head over to Irish Breakdown.