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Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly says he will not be the one calling the offensive plays

We don’t have many answers but we do have more clarity.

Mike Miller / One Foot Down

Brian Kelly got in front of the media to take questions about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team on Saturday, and even though some of the bigger questions weren’t able to be answered — there is a much clearer course of action.

Kelly repeated it quite a bit during his 17 minutes on stage... he was doing things for the best interest of the program. This, of course, was in response to Kelly’s removal of Chip Long as the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

There will be a collaboration on offense right now with Lance Taylor organizing the run game while Tommy Rees will organize the passing game. Kelly still hasn’t decided who will get the playcalling duties against the Iowa St. Cyclones in the Camping World Bowl — but he made it crystal clear that it won’t be him.

Regardless of any report about a decision being made about who will fill the offensive coordinator position in 2020, Kelly said that there will be a thorough search for the next coach that he hires.

Brian Kelly also answered questions about next year’s roster. He knows exactly who is and who isn’t coming back next year, but said he will let the players make those announcements public on their own accord. He did specifically answer a question about long snapper John Shannon’s future, and said Shannon will not be back in 2020.

I got the sense that Kelly was getting a little emotional up at the podium. I think he really wanted to lay it all out — but obviously couldn’t for a myriad of reasons. I think he wants people to know how toxic the Chip Long experience had become, and I think he’s pissed that people assume that he still operates like 2012 Brian Kelly. Maybe I’m reaching on those assessments, but that’s what it felt like.

Notre Dame is currently preparing for that bowl game in Orlando on December 28th, and despite all the fun we’ve had about the possible ascension of Tommy Rees (#REESUS) as the next OC, the bottom line is that Kelly isn’t rushing any decision. There’s no news there, but it certainly makes the path to the news a lot clearer.

You can watch the full press conference below: