ORLANDO, Fla. — Scott Frost, even after he had accepted the head-coaching job at Nebraska four seasons ago, hung around long enough to coach undefeated UCF in the Peach Bowl.
Urban Meyer, even after he accepted the head-coaching job at Florida in 2004, hung around long enough to coach his undefeated Utah team in the Fiesta Bowl.
Billy Napier, who just accepted the head-coaching job at Florida on Sunday, is at least hanging around long enough to coach his Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in the Sun Belt Conference championship game this weekend.
Meanwhile, Brian Kelly can’t even hang around South Bend long enough to see if his Notre Dame team makes it into the College Football Playoff.
Can you believe it? Kelly, the coach of a Fighting Irish squad that still has a chance to make the playoff and perhaps win a national championship, shamelessly took LSU’s money and immediately bolted for Baton Rouge.
Never again should any college football coach complain about recruits who decommit or players who opt out of bowl games. Kelly, for crying out loud, is opting out of a potential national-championship run.
Don’t get me wrong; nobody has a problem with Kelly doubling his salary and leaving Notre Dame for LSU’s obscene 10-year, $95 million contract offer, but for the 60-year-old Kelly to leave for Baton Rouge immediately is absolutely disgraceful. He couldn’t even wait a week to see if the Fighting Irish — currently ranked No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings — earn a semifinal berth.
At the very least, he could have accepted the LSU job and let it be known, “Just to be clear, if we [Notre Dame] make the College Football Playoff, I want my players to know I am fully committed to coaching them and doing everything in my power to help them win a championship. If Notre Dame’s administration allows me to coach in the playoff, I would be thankful for the opportunity. If not, I understand.”
If he had done that, Kelly would have been celebrated (like Frost was back in 2017) for being loyal to his team instead of castigated for being a ruthless mercenary.
Seriously, what self-respecting coach would leave his players when they still have a chance to win a national championship — even if it’s a self-proclaimed one like UCF in 2017?
Remember what Frost said when he decided to stick around and coach the Knights in that Peach Bowl victory against Auburn nearly a month after he had accepted the Nebraska job?
“Our whole staff’s No. 1 priority has been and always will be the players we’re coaching,” Frost said then. “That’s why we’re in this business. We feel the right thing to do is to be 100 percent committed and dialed in to helping these young guys win this bowl game. I’m grateful to have this opportunity. UCF has been unbelievable to me. To be [coaching] here one more time is special to me.”
Meanwhile, Kelly is taking LSU’s money and quitting on his team.
What a pathetic move.
What a disgrace.
He should be ashamed of himself.
