Former head coach Brian Kelly left the Notre Dame football team high and dry, so what will his legacy be with the school going forward?
Twenty-four hours after a coach leaves for a new job, is probably too early to properly evaluate a coach’s legacy, though we will attempt to do so with former Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly. Most fans are angry, upset, and reacting to the news that the coach has left.
As time goes on, people’s perceptions change, and they’re better able to see the whole picture of that coach’s tenure at a school.
Still, it’s important to go back and figure out how to feel about a coach, their time at a program, and what it all meant in the big picture because it helps fans who feel spurned to move on from that coach. It brings a sense of closure. It’s a new feeling for Notre Dame fans, but it doesn’t help you in the long term to get angry over it.
Just ask any Group of Five or low-level Power Five fan who has had to get used to this.
So, what is Brian Kelly’s legacy at Notre Dame? What is going to define his twelve seasons in South Bend?
Notre Dame football: What is the Legacy of Brian Kelly with the Irish?
How he left
Part of Kelly’s legacy is always going to be how he left Notre Dame. He didn’t tell anyone in the building that this was something that he was planning. That didn’t give the Notre Dame administration a chance to respond to LSU’s contract offer.
It also means that he probably didn’t want to give them a chance to respond. He decided to hold a meeting at 7 am after the news broke, only spending a few minutes to tell the players. He didn’t take any questions and left quickly.
Reports trickled in throughout the day that Kelly was trying to convince several assistants to go with him to LSU. Some of them, though definitely not all of them, are going to follow him there because of the higher salaries offered and loyalty to Kelly.
All of this leaves a sour taste in your mouth in the immediate aftermath, but it is something that is going to pass with time. This is, ultimately, pretty standard. Notre Dame fans just aren’t used to it, with the last Irish coach to leave Notre Dame for another team being Thomas Barry following the 1907 season.
In other words, the way Kelly left isn’t going to be as big a deal to Kelly’s legacy as the fact he left. He decided that the Notre Dame job isn’t as good as the LSU job, and he has a better chance of winning a championship there. That is a bigger insult than any of the details to how he left.
Notre Dame football: What is the Legacy of Brian Kelly with the Irish?
What he accomplished
On the other hand, you need to take into account what Kelly did for Notre Dame during his time there. When Brian Kelly first made it to South Bend, Notre Dame hadn’t been relevant to college football in fifteen years. The Charlie Weis era had been a disaster and the program was at its lowest point since the Gerry Faust era.
Kelly turned the program around from there and made them one of the most consistently dominant teams in college football.
Throughout his career at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly took Notre Dame to the BCS Championship Game, two different Playoff appearances, and an additional Fiesta Bowl. He put together seven 10+ win seasons, including five in a row to end his time in South Bend. Kelly’s record against USC was 8-3, and he managed to become the winningest coach in Notre Dame history with 113 wins. He cracked the secret to winning at Notre Dame in the modern era.
That’s no small feat.
He’s also left Notre Dame in a position to succeed going forward. They can easily promote Marcus Freeman to head coach and not have to deal with major changes to the culture or recruiting base. They could keep moving forward without any notable drop. They can also go forward with an outside hire and they should continue to find success.
All of that is possible because of the work that Brian Kelly put into the program.
Then you do have to come to terms with the fact that Brian Kelly never won a major bowl game in his 12 seasons in South Bend. Yes, he could win in the regular season and he got to a lot of important postseason games, but he never won any of them. He left to win those games elsewhere because he thinks it will be easier.
That is a major part of his legacy.
Notre Dame football: What is the Legacy of Brian Kelly with the Irish?
Off the field and final thoughts
You also need to consider a couple of off-the-field incidents. The first is the death of Declan Sullivan. Yes, the story of the student who died after falling from a scissor lift on Kelly’s watch is an important part of his legacy.
His death was found to be the university’s fault, meaning it was Kelly’s fault. That can’t be ignored.
Then, there is how he handled the Prince Shembo case. Shembo, who maintains his innocence, was accused of sexually assaulting Lizzy Seeberg, a student at St. Mary’s College. She killed herself after receiving threats for reporting the assault.
Police couldn’t press charges due to her death, while Kelly was accused of trying to cover up the assault. That’s something Notre Dame football fans have tried to overlook but can’t be forgotten.
So, where does all of this leave Kelly’s legacy? On the one hand, he put the Irish back on the map and did the things needed to find success. However, it came at the expense of having a coach willing to push his morals to the side to succeed. That sounds like one of the common complaints against someone like Urban Meyer or even Art Briles.
In other words, Kelly was good for Notre Dame. The program needed him to get back to being relevant on the national stage, but at times, it cost the program some of its moral high ground.