Brian Kelly’s LSU tenure has gotten off to an awkward start, as he has struggled to get any of his former Notre Dame assistants to follow him to Baton Rouge.
Kelly has been turned down by multiple Notre Dame assistants despite reportedly making significant offers to try to tempt them into following him to LSU. Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman appears set to replace Kelly as head coach at Notre Dame despite Kelly’s efforts to get him to take the same position at LSU. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees was also targeted by Kelly, but Rees opted to remain at Notre Dame as well.
Defensive line coach Mike Elston also turned down the chance to follow Kelly to LSU, and he announced that decision in a very public way.
According to John Brice of Football Scoop, director of football administration Beth Rex is essentially the only notable name to leave Notre Dame to join Kelly at LSU. With Kelly already the subject of criticism and mockery for how his departure was handled, social media had a field day reacting to this series of rejections.
High-level coaching changes at this level are always a bit awkward. Kelly’s, however, has gone worse than most. It wasn’t just that he essentially ghosted the entire school after the LSU news broke. He handled it poorly and awkwardly with players, and he seems to have alienated a lot of people at Notre Dame. Maybe that’s why so few assistants are eager to follow him out the door.
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