Kelly on leaving Irish for LSU: ‘We were on different paths’

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If you want to know why Brian Kelly left Notre Dame after 12 years spent leading college football’s most storied program to become the coach at LSU, the answer in part lies in one of the nicest cafeterias in college sports.

“It’s been awesome because you’ve got incredible facilities, you’ve got players that want to be great,” Kelly told The Associated Press on the eve of his first spring practice at LSU. “I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship. And I came down here because I want to be in the American League East.”

“I felt like I did everything that I could at Notre Dame and they felt like they did everything they could for me,” Kelly said. “I felt like we had both got to a point where this is what they could do, right? This is what I did. And we couldn’t get past that. OK? And so here we are.”

Among the items Kelly was pushing? A chef dedicated to the football program and a new facility to replace the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, which currently houses the football team and does not have a dining hall.

“We don’t have that,” Kelly said of LSU’s nutrition center, reflexively referring to Notre Dame as we. “We hand out food. That’s precooked.”

The biggest difference between Kelly’s new job and the old one is something Notre Dame could never replicate. Much like real estate, success in college football often comes down to three things: Location, location, location.

Notre Dame relies on a national recruiting plan, more so than any other successful program.

“I’m gone for six weeks at Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “From L.A. to New Jersey to Texas to wherever.”

Now he can jump in his new Tesla Model X Plaid and drive a few hours in any direction to recruit blue-chip prospects.

LSU is the lone Power Five school in a state that has 17 of the top 400 recruits in 247 Sports’ current rankings for 2023. By comparison, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have a total of 26. Baton Rouge is also a four-hour drive from Houston, one of the most talent-rich metro areas in the country.

On a sunny spring day in Baton Rouge, Kelly stood on the balcony off his office, pointed out his cool new ride in the parking lot below and chuckled about how it can go more than 130 mph — as if he would ever need that.

He said he is not concerned about being poked fun of for dancing with recruits or that he seemed to suddenly develop a Southern accent after he was introduced as LSU’s coach.

Getting to know Louisiana culture has been a blast for the Massachusetts native, though he said the rich food is going challenge his ability to stay fit. He was pleasantly surprised to find out LSU closes for Mardi Gras and that floats use a road outside his office to access a parade route.

“So you got floats going by for three days,” he said. “I’m like, this is different.”

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