There is always more to the story

​Many of you who know me know I am a big Notre Dame guy. I especially love Notre Dame football. So when my teenage son texted me last night - suddenly he has more words than 'ok' in a text message 🤷‍♂️ - and told me their coach Brian Kelly was leaving for LSU, I was momentarily devastated.

The devastation was short-lived - I promise. I didn't lose sleep. It didn't take me long to put this event in perspective against the backdrop of a few other challenging events in my life.

But as I read the social media threads last night, and again this morning, a lot of people in the world of college football remain devastated by this - even indignant toward the coach.

The most common outrage is 'this guy abandoned the kids to chase the money.'

Reports are that LSU is going to pay Kelly at least 3 times what he is making at Notre Dame. So to put that in perspective, it would be like someone paying you to fly to their company this morning for a visit and offering to immediately begin paying you 3 times what you make today. No questions asked.

I'm not saying you'd do it, but I am saying it's pretty unfair of a world that spends a great bit of its day chasing money to demonize a guy for chasing the money.

I'm reading what an awful guy Kelly is for letting the media break this news to his staff and kids. Yet, it's the same media that lets us know what Brian Kelly is having for lunch before Brian Kelly knows what he's having for lunch. If the media is so put off by a guy not being the first one to tell his team, why not give the guy a chance to tell his team?

My favorite is he is betraying Notre Dame - the place that was loyal to him.

Brian Kelly is the winningest coach ever at Notre Dame. For the past 6 of his 10 years there, as a Notre Dame fan, I've only had to watch the team lose a handful of times. They don't lose. Sure, they haven't won a national championship, but if your name isn't Alabama or Clemson - neither have you.

I've watched this guy totally transform himself from a raging lunatic on the sidelines to a guy his players love to play for. He took a look at himself - identified some character flaws - and addressed them for the good of the people around him.

I watched him swallow a whole lot of ego to be loyal to the place that was loyal to him.

And here is the thing about leaving. At some point, we all leave something that no one expected us to leave. And none of us outside of that situation have any idea what the real leaving story is. We can sit on the outside and criticize it or judge it, and often, that sadly brings out the worst side of both a fan and a human.

I personally don't think Kelly would be leaving Notre Dame if they didn't have the perfect coach in waiting standing on the sideline - a coach I'm sure they will promote before this day is done. I personally don't think Kelly would be leaving if he didn't know what he has built is only going to continue to grow.

But I don't know that; none of us do.

All I know is Kelly made fall Saturdays a lot more interesting the last decade. It's hard to be upset about that if you keep things in perspective. I wish him nothing but the best at his next stop.

From the look of things in my reading this morning, perspective isn't always easy to come by. 😮