Brian Kelly Once Again Shows The Problem Was Never Really Notre Dame

Former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's comments about DL recruiting this week are another example of why he never won it all with the Irish

LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Former Notre Dame and current LSU head coach Brian Kelly sparked a lot of conversation this week when he was asked to address defensive line recruiting for the Tigers. While his comments don't directly impact Notre Dame, the comments were a reminder why the Irish program is better off with Kelly down in Baton Rouge.

There is no doubt that Kelly did a lot of good things at Notre Dame. You don't win 113 games by accident no matter how long you coach at a place like Notre Dame. While too much of the credit for the success in recent years is given to him, it would be unfair and disrespectful to not recognize the role he did play in helping the program bounce back after 20 years of mediocre football.

But Kelly's comments this week once again show why he had a self-imposed ceiling at Notre Dame.

Kelly was asked about LSU's inability to land a couple of transfer portal defensive tackles to address a major position of need for the Tigers. Kelly said the following about why they didn't land both players.

"We're not in the market of buying players," Kelly said to Jacques Doucet of WAFB. "Unfortunately, right now, that's what some guys are looking for. They want to be bought."

On the surface, this seems like it has the potential to be a reasonable comment. If you're trying to build the right culture as a head coach, you have to be careful with the type of personalities you're adding to your program. You need to make sure any high school player or transfer you add are going to buy in to the bigger picture, and if it's only about money then you'll run the risk of tearing down the culture. You also have to be smart about where you commit the financial resources you do have.

Let's be honest, this isn't really what Kelly is doing here, and Notre Dame fans who paid attention to his career see right through it. It's what Kelly always does, which is tamp down expectations, lower the standard and create built in excuses just in case things don't go well. Lower the bar, and that way if things work out you can take all the credit, tell everyone how wonderful you are and then ask for more money.

That was his modus operandi at Notre Dame. During Kelly's tenure he constantly talked about how winning was so hard at Notre Dame, and how stumbling block after stumbling block kept his program from being success. It wasn't his fault that Notre Dame lost to teams like Tulsa, South Florida, Navy, Northwestern, Duke and Pittsburgh despite having loaded rosters.

It wasn't his poor coaching hire at defensive coordinator in 2014, and unwillingness to make a change until it was forced upon him, that kept him from winning. It wasn't him allowing the strength program to bottom out that hurt the program, or his decision to go for two when already up 11, or to roll out a true freshman to throw a go ball when already in field goal range and down a point in the fourth quarter, or any other poor decision he made that kept him from reaching the pinnacle in South Bend.

It was the academic standards that forced those decisions, it was the lack of a chef for the football team that caused him to make some poor coaching hires. It was the cold weather in Indiana that forced him to "shop down a different aisle" at Notre Dame. So when Notre Dame fans hear Kelly talk about them not being in the business of buying players - when everyone knows LSU has done that in recent seasons - it sounds so much like the recruiting excuses he made at Notre Dame.

Here's what I don't know, I don't know if Marcus Freeman will win a championship at Notre Dame. The only thing I can guarantee is that he won't win fewer than Kelly won at Notre Dame. Beyond that we still have a lot to learn about the Irish head coach. But here's what I also know, in just two and a half years, Freeman has destroyed all the false narratives that were created by his predecessor. Here's what I also know, when Freeman has fallen short he has owned it and sought to correct mistakes, he doesn't create excuses that allow him to point the blame in other directions.

Freeman wasn't happy about how the 2023 season played out, you could see it on his face clear as day in the final two games of the regular season. Notre Dame finished 10-3, and were a yard away from beating Ohio State, and the ball bouncing a couple of different ways against Clemson away from being a much better team. They beat nine of their opponents by at least 21 points, something that has never been done in South Bend. His offense set a program scoring record of 39.2 points per game, and his defense was a Top 5 unit.

But when the season ended, we didn't hear the "We just have to coach a little better and play a little harder" talk like we did back in 2015 when the 10-3 Irish were a play here and a play there away from beating Clemson and Stanford to finish with a much better record. Kelly stood pat that offseason and didn't make a single change to his coaching staff, despite it being obvious the defensive coordinator was tremendously misusing the talent he had.

That 2015 season was followed by a 4-8 dumpster fire, and Kelly was then forced to make changes. Those changes were fueled as much by Jack Swarbrick and Bob Diaco (who helped Notre Dame get Matt Balis) as they were Kelly.

Freeman didn't sit on his hands after the 10-3 campaign in 2023, he made changes. As soon as the regular season was over he let go of his receivers coach, and he made a huge hire at offensive coordinator, hiring Mike Denbrock away from LSU after the Tigers led the nation in scoring and total offense this past season. The Irish were far more aggressive in the transfer portal, and in about a two month period Freeman addressed multiple issues that he clearly felt were needed to advance the program.

No excuses. No blaming others. No using Notre Dame's high standards as a crutch. He went to work, garnered the support needed to bring about change, and improved the program. When I then see the latest comments from Kelly, I'm reminded of the stark contrast between how Freeman handles himself and how Kelly did.

It should be yet another reminder to Irish fans that while Freeman still has plenty to prove, the program finally has a head coach willing to do what it takes to get the most out of his program, and will do it all while embracing what makes Notre Dame unique.

It's a refreshing change.

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