With all of the noise circulating about Brian Kelly’s abrupt departure from Notre Dame to take the head coaching job at LSU, there are several people who have voiced their displeasure for the man’s decision.
And one of those people?
No other than famed Notre Dame football coach, Lou Holtz.
Holtz is probably the most beloved coach in Notre Dame history. The man was truly passionate about his school, as he coached there for 11 seasons, and led the team to a national championship back in 1988 while going 100-30-2 in his career there.
So when the man talks Notre Dame Football, people are gonna listen.
The 84-year-old made an appearance on The Crowd’s Line to discuss the Kelly situation, and needless to say, he let him have it:
“He was there for 12 years, he did an excellent job… but I cannot think of one marquee win he ever had over a top-10 team, other than he beat Clemson when they had the second-string quarterback. When Clemson played them again the same year with Lawrence, they dominated Notre Dame, but he’s an excellent coach.
You just don’t leave Notre Dame, you don’t go to Notre Dame because of money. My average salary for 11 years was $115,000. Now he’s is going to go because of the money and all the perks, etc.
But the other thing that bothered me about him… he never talked about Notre Dame and what really made it great. To be part of Notre Dame you have to talk about the Lady on the Dome, you’ve got to feel the spirit of Notre Dame, you just gotta to be a part of it.
It’s just something you feel an awesome responsibility to the Notre Dame fans but to Notre Dame itself and that never materialized. He left the program in much better shape than when he first arrived but to go somewhere for money, I just don’t think that’s the right reason.”
Well said.
There really is a lot of truth to what Holtz is saying here, as Kelly has typically favored off a relatively easy schedule with Notre Dame. On top of that, he’s never truly been able to get the job done against the heavy hitters of college football.
However, he will definitely have a bigger edge in recruiting at LSU, so we’ll see if that tide changes soon.
Marcus Freeman, the previous defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, has reportedly taken Kelly’s spot as head coach.
