Brian Kelly should be embarrassed by his note to Notre Dame players
This is the Morning Win, by Andy Nesbitt.
It's been a wild few days in college football. Absolutely wild.
From Saturday's crazy games to Sunday's stunning move by Lincoln Riley to leave Oklahoma for USC, it's been an unpredictable ride that feels like it still has some big changes coming in the future.
One of those big changes happened last night when it was reported that Brian Kelly will be leaving Notre Dame to become the next head coach at LSU. It was just a total stunner from out of nowhere, as Kelly has the Fighting Irish in contention for a spot in the playoffs and has recently said he couldn't see himself leaving South Bend.
Well, he's leaving alright and the way he got that message out to his players was absolutely embarrassing and wrong.
Last night The Athletic's Pete Sampson shared Kelly's note that he sent to players via Team Works. Some Notre Dame players confirmed on their podcast last night that Kelly did indeed send this note.
Look at this thing:
"Men ... Let me first apologize for the late night text and, more importantly, for not being able to share the news with you in person that I will be leaving Notre Dame. I am flying back to South Bend tonight to be able to meet with you in the morning but the news broke late today and I am sorry you found out through social media or news reports. I will have more to share when we meet tomorrow at 7 a.m. but for now, just know that my love for you is limitless and I am so proud of all that you have accomplished. Our program is elite because of your hard work and commitment and I know that will continue. Again, my sincere apologies for not being able to be the one to share the news directly with you."
That's a lot. A lot of yikes.
First off, how does a big-time football coach in the year 2021 not know this type of news is going to make it out to the world as soon as possible? Kelly should have known that and should have let his players know before everybody else knew. We all know how easy it is these days to connect with people through Zoom (and other methods) - call a meeting with your players, get them on one big Zoom call and let them know what's going on. It's not that hard.
The rest of the yikes has to do with the wording in that note. He's sorry for the late-night text? How thoughtful!
He'll talk to the team in a 7 a.m. meeting on Tuesday? 7 a.m.!? That's a meeting I'd sleep through if I was a player on the team. It looks like it was a quick meeting, though.
His "love for you is limitless"!? It doesn't feel limitless right now. It feels pretty limited, in fact. Limited by a reported huge payday from another school.
And yes, those sincere apologies at the end seem sooooo sincere.
The players on Notre Dame can still make the playoffs and if they do their coach, the guy who talked them into coming to South Bend, will be long gone.
Kelly could have handled this 100 times better than he did and for that he should be ashamed of himself.
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