Notre Dame fans and alumni everywhere are furious with Brian Kelly for his decision to leave for LSU. Former quarterback Brady Quinn is no exception, and he had no problem saying so on Wednesday.
Quinn, who played quarterback for the Fighting Irish prior to Kelly’s arrival at the school, called the manner of Kelly’s departure “classless” and blamed money and “ego” for Kelly’s decision to leave for LSU.
“This was about money. This was about ego,” Quinn said on his FOX Sports Radio show “2 Pros and a Cup of Joe” Tuesday. “Him looking at LSU and saying, ‘I’ve played against them. I know the hurdles you have to jump over at Notre Dame vs LSU to recruit and I want to try and go win a National Championship.’ And he might feel like he has a better chance there, but the irony of it is his team could literally be playing for one this year and really the next two years. And I think the way he did it was more about his ego and how he feels he was treated at times at Notre Dame.
“At the end of the day, you don’t leave the way he did, leaving a recruits house after this news breaks, and having other coaches out there who are on the road recruiting; you don’t leave in a classless way like that, after becoming the all-time winningest coach, unless there’s more to it and you want to try to spurn, or try and do this in a conniving way.”
The argument from Kelly will be that things came together quickly and he simply did not get the chance to exit in a way that let Notre Dame players hear it from him personally. Quinn clearly isn’t buying that. The ex-quarterback’s argument is certainly backed by the fact that coaches and staffers at Notre Dame felt hung out to dry by Kelly after the news broke, even though Kelly had time to at least try to reach out to them.
It certainly sounds as if players weren’t particularly moved by Kelly’s efforts to make things right, either. There’s nothing Kelly can really do at this point to make things right with Notre Dame, and he’ll just have to deal with comments like Quinn’s moving forward.
Photo: Sep 28, 2019; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly waves to fans as he enters Notre Dame Stadium before the game against the Virginia Cavaliers. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
