You seemed to have a decent working relationship with Brian Kelly before his departure from Notre Dame. As he’s trying to improve his stock following the LSU dismissal, did you sense a change in your relationship or in how he interacted with you during last week’s interview? — Arnie G.
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You’re right, Kelly is on a charm offensive, and he’ll probably need to keep this up for the next year. He’s got a lot of image rehabilitation to do while working in the media. And most of that rehab is necessary because of his behaviors in the past. I think you saw that in his interview last week when he talked about his departure from Notre Dame being mischaracterized and claiming that he never said Notre Dame couldn’t win a national title. Kelly claimed that he only said if he was going to leave Notre Dame, that it would be for a job where he could win it all.
This is a distinction without a difference.
If Kelly really wanted to lay the foundation for a reputational rehab, he should have just said, “I didn’t handle my departure from Notre Dame well. I underestimated what the program could be. I was wrong. And it’s been remarkable to watch Marcus Freeman push Notre Dame to a place I couldn’t.”
But Kelly didn’t say that. He basically said the kinds of things you’d expect Brian Kelly to say after 12 years at Notre Dame. And that’s why I don’t think he’s changed a whole lot at all, including his working relationship with me. ...
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