'I'm always rooting for him': What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said about LSU firing Brian Kelly

When LSU fired head coach Brian Kelly on Sunday night, most Notre Dame fans took a victory lap. Kelly had left the Irish, after all, and took several shots at his previous employer’s ability to win a national championship on his way out.

But Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, whom Kelly brought to South Bend as his final defensive coordinator with the Irish, feels differently.

“I’ve said this previously: You never wanna see anybody lose your job,” Freeman said. “Especially somebody you know, and at the end of the day you’re always rooting for. Coach Kelly gave me an opportunity to come here, and I’m always rooting for him.”

Kelly hired Freeman from Cincinnati, where he served as defensive coordinator from 2017-20, ahead of the 2021 season. In his lone year calling plays for the Irish, Freeman tied NC State for the 14th-best scoring defense in the country at 19.7 points allowed per game. Together, Kelly and Freeman led to an 11-1 record and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

Kelly took the LSU job Nov. 29, 2021, and Freeman was hired Dec. 3.

Since then, Freeman has gone 38-12 at Notre Dame, with a trip to the College Football Playoff in 2024 and a second one likely on the way if the Irish win their next five games (all against unranked opponents). Freeman won three games in the 2024 CFP and reached the national championship game, where Notre Dame lost Ohio State. Kelly never won a CFP game — or indeed, any major bowl game — with the Irish.

In his three-plus seasons at LSU, Kelly went 34-14 and failed to make the CFP even once. He did win three minor bowl games (Citrus, ReliaQuest and Texas), win the SEC West in 2022 and produce a Heisman Trophy winner in Jayden Daniels in 2023. But he was brought to LSU to win a national championship, and the Tigers’ 5-3 start in 2025 — capped off by an embarrassing 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M on Saturday.

Freeman said that while he’ll always root for Kelly, he understands the risks of coaching college football. This year has been particularly bloody: Eight Power Four jobs are already open, with more almost certainly to come.

“We’ve chosen this profession,” Freeman said. “We know that can be the result of choosing this profession. You asked about the state of college football, it is what it is. Like it or not, it is what it is, and you can’t worry about that. You gotta worry about giving your all to this team and putting this program in position to have success.”

At the end of his answer, Freeman said events like Kelly getting fired remind him to be grateful for the job he has at Notre Dame — and everything else he has in life.

“If you’re not grateful for what you have, you’ll find a way to lose it,” Freeman said. “And I’m not talking about a coach, I’m talking about in life. If you’re not grateful for what you have, you’ll find a way to lose it. Every time you hear some of these things, it’s a reminder of the gratitude I have for this opportunity at this place, with the people I get to work with, the players I get to be involved with, man. I’m grateful.”

Freeman and the Irish are back in action at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, when Notre Dame takes on Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass.