Brian Kelly shocker: Notre Dame staff reportedly stunned by coach's departure

The coaching carousel has been busy over the past 48 hours with some big names leaving current posts for big-time changes.

The first big change came Sunday when Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC. That change was far from the last.

Monday evening, reports started to roll in that Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly is leaving the Fighting Irish for the SEC. According to those reports, Kelly will be the next head coach at LSU.

To call Kelly’s move a stunner would be an understatement. It caught the world of college football off guard, including Kelly’s own staff at Notre Dame.

According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, multiple Irish staff members have yet to hear from Kelly about a potential departure. Matt Fortuna of The Athletic also reported that calling the move a blindside for Notre Dame’s staff “is an understatement.”

Multiple Notre Dame staff members still haven’t heard from Brian Kelly about the expected departure to LSU.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) November 30, 2021

To say that Notre Dame coaches, admins and boosters I have spoken with in the last 15 minutes have been blindsided is an understatement. An absolutely shocking development in South Bend. https://t.co/Lnwk06Eqfu

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) November 30, 2021

Fortuna also cited one Irish assistant who claimed the news broke as he left the house of a prospect while making recruiting rounds:

This is usually how these things go, but Brian Kelly has ghosted everyone at Notre Dame. Just spoke to one assistant who saw reports on his phone tonight as he was exiting a recruit’s home: “The news broke when I walked out of the house, so I look like a f—– a–hole.”

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) November 30, 2021

The coaching carousel has definitely been turned on its head as we approach Championship Weekend.