Notre Dame Fighting Irish News: Brian Kelly the new villain, more

With the departure of Jim Harbaugh, there is a bit of a hole in the sport. Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans might be happy to see their old rival get out of the sport, an argument can be made that it needs guys like him.

Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz wrote about how the sport needs people like Harbaugh in order to hold its popularity. 

“With Saban and Harbaugh out…. Who is the face of college football? Who is the polarizing good guy/bad guy that absolutely everyone will watch because at the end of the day they care (good or bad). Look at college basketball. Legendary names aren’t easy to replace for a sport.”

At least one reporter thinks he knows who could fill that void. None other than former Notre Dame Fighting Irish and current LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly could be that guy, according to Rivals’ Tyler James.

It’s certainly not a bad guess. Brian Kelly is pretty popular in Baton Rouge after he coached the most recent Heisman winner. However, he’s not particularly popular anywhere else. Just ask Notre Dame football fans about Kelly, and you won’t get many positive comments. 

There is a bit of a blank space when it comes to this sort of thing, and Brian Kelly does appear to be someone who could step into that spot.

More Notre Dame Fighting Irish News

Graduate guard Andrew Kristofic has left Notre Dame football.  This time, it’s not about a player stepping into the transfer portal. Kristofic is going to be hanging up his pads and helmet for good. The school says that he’ll be starting a career in financial planning.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team continued a rather rough stretch. On Thursday night, Niele Ivey’s squad lost to Syracuse for the second time this season. There are some real concerns about the team's direction after a game where the Notre Dame Fighting Irish entered the fourth quarter tied 51-51 and lost 74-59 thanks in no small part to a stretch that lasted more than five minutes without a bucket.