49ers tackle Mike McGlinchey spent five of his formative college years at Notre Dame, under head coach Brian Kelly. In the span of a week, Kelly’s legacy at the school, and image among alumni has shifted substantially.
In the midst of an 11-1 season, Kelly left Notre Dame to take a job at LSU, who parted ways with longtime head coach and recent CFB Championship winner Ed Orgeron.
Kelly did not wait until the season concluded, though. Why? Well, LSU reportedly offered him a 10-year, $95 million deal which is 90 percent guaranteed.
McGlinchey joined Lamont and Tonelli on Thursday, saying that he doesn’t fault Kelly for leaving, but he has a major issue with how he went about it.
After 11 years of running the Notre Dame program, Kelly’s exit was as swift as it was unceremonious. The way he relayed the information to his players was, well, questionable.
He sent the message below to players to confirm he’d be leaving for LSU, then had players come in for a 7 a.m. meeting the following morning.
That meeting took roughly four minutes, and was recorded here.
McGlinchey, understandably, was displeased with Kelly’s approach.
“I am a little upset with the way that he did it,” McGlinchey said. “I don’t think leaving in the middle of the season when your team has a chance to go to the playoff is very cool.”
He attempted to express his feelings “politely.”
“To put it politely, I think it’s wrong. I think it’s wrong,” McGlinchey said. “I think it’s wrong to those guys. I think it’s wrong to the coaching staff that’s there. I think it’s wrong to the players that are there, especially because they said that it is going to be a factor into the decision of the college football playoff.
And that’s wrong for the college kids that have put together an 11-1 season and a chance to make a run on a national championship. I can’t blame him for leaving, but I can blame him for the timing of him leaving.”
Listen to the full interview below. The answer on Kelly starts at the 6:22 mark.