College football’s regular season just ended, and the coaching carousel wasted no time whatsoever in going completely off the rails. We pretty well saw Billy Napier to Florida coming, but the other two big vacancies were filled with names that I don’t know that anyone really saw coming. Lincoln Riley denied denied denied any interest in taking the LSU job – perfect sleight of hand. He ends up riding off in the night to take the USC job in some real Now You See Me type of shit. Rumors flew about his dislike of Oklahoma’s decision to join the SEC, so it makes sense. You literally cannot run further from the SEC than the Pac-12. We’d heard for awhile now that LSU was dead set on pulling Jimbo Fisher away from Texas A&M, but that was going to be difficult to do, and it seemed unlikely to me from the jump. But, Baton Rouge made a splash in its own right by going out and hauling Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame in a move that, I don’t know about you guys, but it sure surprised the hell out of me.
Personally, I love it – I’m a fan of Kelly’s, and am guilty of making excuses for him in the past. But, what he’s been able to do at Notre Dame given how the college football landscape has passed that program by is nothing short of a miracle. He’s a solid program builder, but I think it’s safe to say that we’ve seen his ceiling at Notre Dame. It’s enough to get them to the playoffs, but they just haven’t had the horses to run with the Clemsons and Alabamas of the world the last several seasons. You’re not going to get those types of horses recruiting Notre Dame in the modern era. But, you can get those types of horses at LSU. So, I’m all here for giving this man a shot where he can recruit to the extent of his full potential.
While I know these things are pretty sensitive, especially in this era of the internet, when any bit of news or information can hit millions of people in an instant, I do find it hilarious that Kelly ended up just texting the team that he was leaving the program for greener pastures. Let’s take a look at this thing.
Just now Brian Kelly messaged Notre Dame’s roster in Team Works that “I will be leaving Notre Dame.”
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 30, 2021
The plan is for Kelly to meet with the team tomorrow at 7 a.m.
Here is the full message pic.twitter.com/sqAl2txZIy
This is some real break-up-via-text energy right here, coach. He’s pouring on the love, literally saying “my love for you is limitless,” which is a super weird thing to say in a text. It brings up an interesting moral dilemma, right? What do you do in this situation? Do you get in front of it like Kelly did, and tell your players that you have a bottomless depth of love for them in your soul? Or, do you just press pause and address the team in the morning? I think I’d lean towards “some things are better left said face to face,” but that’s just me.
Also, somebody wasn’t happy about this or else this text message doesn’t leak to the press. Man, what a weird dynamic, and here we are in the year 2021, with full access to stuff like this. It was also reported that the meeting Kelly was talking about this morning – which, while we’re at it, a 7AM meeting??? Really? After all this??? – only lasted 11 minutes as Kelly addressed the team and then peaced out.
I guess all’s fair in love, war, and college football. As usual, Twitter reactions remain undefeated:
Brian Kelly does not look like he even belongs in Baton Rouge
— Daren Bates (@DB_5trey) November 30, 2021
Brian Kelly literally did the Irish Goodbye to Notre Dame
— BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) November 30, 2021
Mental image: Brian Kelly, the single most cop head coach in college football, interacting with the LSU fanbase
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) November 30, 2021
Brian Kelly looks like he thinks Sprite is too spicy how is he a culture fit for LSU
— America Is Musty (@DragonflyJonez) November 29, 2021
Brian Kelly eating mommas gumbo at a recruits house south of I-10 pic.twitter.com/tfIVxfitTc
— Elliot Coffey (@YungCoff) November 30, 2021
lsu fans after brian kelly's first loss pic.twitter.com/w3mXn19ZBI
— Joe Ali (@JoeAli) November 30, 2021
Brian Kelly at first interview after practice at LSU pic.twitter.com/J4HneZqUVy
— Will Blackmon (@WillBlackmon) November 30, 2021
If you haven’t already, be sure to go subscribe to the College Football Roundup Podcast, on which Steven McCash and myself break down all the action from the college football world and look ahead to the week to come.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
Check out the SoBros Shop. Become a Patron. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Watch on YouTube.
